THE  >IEW  HARRY 
AND  LUCY  • 

^      -A  STORY  OF 
f     THE  BOSTON 

OF    ODAY  • 


THE 


NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY 


A  STORY  OF  BOSTON  IN  THE 
SUMMER    OF  1891 


BY 

EDWARD    E.    HALE 

AND 

LUCRETIA  P.   HALE 


BOSTON 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS 
1892 


Copyright,  1891, 
BY  COMMONWEALTH  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


PREFACE. 


'T~~VHE  patent  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of 
-*-  most  other  countries  require  that  a  person 
who  offers  an  invention  as  new  to  the  examiners 
in  the  Patent  Office  shall  state  first  what  he  does 
not  claim  and  then  what  he  does  claim.  That  is, 
the  inventor  is  made  to  say  :  "  I  do  not  claim  the 
invention  of  carrying  passengers  by  steam ;  that 
invention  has  been  made  already.  I  do  claim  that 
I  have  made  such  or  such  a  change  in  the  applica 
tion  of  steam-power." 

As  we  submit  this  book  for  the  approval  of  the 
examining  committee  of  that  body  of  a  million 
persons,  more  or  less,  who  read  books  in  America, 
it  is  our  duty  to  make  a  similar  announcement. 
It  is  perhaps  called  a  caveat.  First,  then,  as  to 
what  we  do  not  claim.  We  do  not  claim  that  the 
title  "Harry  and  Lucy"  is  new.  Although  most 
of  the  present  generation  have  forgotten  the  fact, 
nevertheless  it  is  true,  as  the  bewildered  parson 
said,  that  Miss  Edge  worth  used  the  name  "  Harry 


•jv  PREFACE. 


and  Lucy  "  as  the  title  of  one  of  her  more  success 
ful  books  for  children.  This  book  began  "  Harry 
was  brother  to  Lucy,  and  Lucy  was  sister  to 
Harry;"  and  it  described  their  training,  apart 
and  together,  until,  at  the  end  of  it,  they  were 
both  well  up  in  the  methods  then  employed  in 
the  steam-engine.  Neither  do  we  claim  as  our 
own  the  union  of  two  persons  named  "  Sandford  " 
and  "Merton"  in  the  same  book.  That  device 
had  already  been  attempted  by  an  author  named 
Thomas  Day,  a  friend,  if  anybody  cares,  of  this 
same  Miss  Edgeworth.  Her  father  had  undoubt 
edly  conferred  with  Thomas  Day  on  the  subject 
of  "  Sandford  and  Merton,"  and  certain  quotations 
from  the  original  "  Sandford  and  Merton "  will 
be  found  in  the  original  "  Harry  and  Lucy." 
From  the  ideas  of  Miss  Edgeworth  and  Thomas 
Day  the  authors  of  this  book  have  profited,  but 
they  disclaim  any  wish  to  include  them  under 
the  copyright  of  this  volume,  or  to  assume  credit 
for  them  in  any  other  form.  What  we 

Claim 

is  that,  with  the  facility  of  a  promptly  printed 
weekly  newspaper,  we  have  been  able,  in  this  story, 
to  relate  the  experiences  of  the  hero  and  the  heroine, 
as  those  experiences  passed.  We  have  had  the 
advantage,  which  most  novelists  do  not  have,  of 
letting  the  plan  of  the  book,  so  far  as  there  is  any, 


PREFACE.  V 

develop  itself  from  week  to  week,  almost  from 
hour  to  hour.  The  novelist  is  generally  embar 
rassed  because  he  knows  at  the  beginning  of  his 
story  how  it  is  going  to  turn  out.  We  did  not 
suffer  under  such  embarrassment,  because  when  we 
began  this  story  we  did  not  know  but  that  Boston 
might  be  burned  up,  and  every  Harry  and  Lucy  in 
it,  before  the  summer  was  over.  Our  hero  and 
heroine,  therefore,  go  on  their  way  unconsciously 
from  week  to  week.  They  record  their  own  ex 
periences,  and  the  reader  is  therefore  as  much  at  a 
loss  as  they  are  themselves,  as  to  the  goal  to  which 
those  experiences  shall  lead  them. 

We  venture  the  farther  remark,  and  we  hope  it 
does  not  savor  of  vanity,  that  whatever  the  recep 
tion  which  the  critics  of  to-day  may  give  to  this 
book,  it  is  a  book  of  that  class  which,  as  Abraham 
Lincoln  once  said,  "  people  who  like  that  sort  of 
book  will  read  with  satisfaction  "  two  hundred  years 
hence,  if  by  good  fortune  a  copy  be  preserved  in 
the  public  library.  The  critical  student  of  Anne 
Hutchinson  or  Thomas  Dudley  or  John  Winthrop 
to-day  would  be  delighted  if  some  boy  or  girl  of 
1635,  1636,  and  1637  had  condescended  to  leave 
for  us  any  such  statement  of  the  methods  of  daily 
life  in  the  peninsular  then  known  as  "  Lost  Town." 
To  the  young,  it  may  be  said  that  this  is  the  Boston 
of  to-day. 


Vi  PREFACE. 

To  the  dull  reader,  supposing  that  there  were 
such  who  bought  books  with  the  imprint  of  our 
publishers,  it  may  be  added  that  the  several  chap 
ters  of  this  book  appeared  in  successive  numbers  of 
the  BOSTON  COMMONWEALTH,  within  a  few  days  of 
the  dates  which  appear  in  the  several  chapters.  The 
book,  therefore,  is  really  a  contemporaneous  picture 
of  the  life  of  Boston  in  the  summer  and  autumn 
of  1891. 

EDWARD  E.   HALE. 

LUCRETIA  P.   HALE. 
ROIBURT,  MASS. 

Feb.  13,  1892. 


THE 


NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTEE  FIRST. 

I. 

HAKRY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  June  2,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  When  I  wrote  you  my  hasty 
cards  last  Sunday  and  the  week  before,  I  told  you 
that  there  was  no  moment  for  writing.  The  fat  was 
in  the  fire  indeed ;  and  I  assure  you  that  I  have  had 
to  hop  about,  or  to  fly  around,  as  you  never  saw  a 
sausage  in  your  frying-pan. 

The  first  intimation  of  a  change  at  Leeds  canie  to 
us  on  Saturday  morning,  a  week  ago.  Our  Mr.  Cod- 
dington  came  back  from  New  York,  where  there  had 
been  a  great  meeting  of  the  corporation.  I  do  not 
think  he  had  been  snubbed,  and  yet  I  do  not  think 
he  had  had  exactly  his  own  way ;  but  it  was  none 
of  my  business  to  ask.  He  sent  for  us  at  once,  —  me 
and  Mr.  Clarke,  —  and  said  that,  though  he  did  not 
know  anything  about  it  and  must  not  tell  any  secrets, 
it  was  quite  possible  that  the  whole  of  the  treasurer's 
office  might  be  moved  from  Leeds  to  Boston.  You 
see  it  is  quite  possible  that  Mr.  Coddington  himself 
will  be  chosen  vice-president  of  the  company,  instead 


2  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

of  being  treasurer.  In  that  case,  there  is  a  Boston 
man  whose  name  I  must  not  mention  to  you,  who 
will  be  chosen  treasurer,  and  he  will  want  to  have  the 
office  in  Boston,  instead  of  having  it  at  Leeds.  This 
means  that  the  whole  kit  of  us  —  chief  clerks,  sec 
ond  clerks,  little  clerks,  cashiers,  typewriters,  and 
stenographers,  down  to  Mike  who  blacks  the  stove  — 
will  all  have  to  move  to  Boston.  And  we  shall  have 
to  move  in  pretty  short  metre  too ;  for  all  this  is  to 
be  determined  at  the  great  stockholders'  meeting, 
which  will  take  place  sometime  as  the  summer  goes 
by,  I  do  not  know  just  when. 

Of  course  at  the  last  moment  they  may  tip  out  our 
whole  crowd  with  proxies ;  but  I  do  not  think  they 
will.  I  have  heard  that  proxy  talk  for  a  good  many 
years,  and  have  come  to  be  confident. 

So  what  this  means  to  you  and  me  is  that  I  have 
been  sent  down  here  to  see  at  what  place  the  new 
man,  whom  I  must  not  name,  would  like  to  have  the 
office ;  and  to  inquire,  for  the  benefit  of  the  others,  about 
hiring  rooms  and  houses,  and  how  we  are  all  to  live. 
You  will  not  be  surprised  to  know  that,  on  the  whole, 
all  the  men  like  to  go  to  Boston.  We  do  not  know 
anything  about  Boston  in  the  office ;  but  we  all  pre 
tend  to,  and  there  is  hardly  one  of  us  who  has  not 
an  old  friend  or  a  cousin  here.  I  cannot  help  think 
ing  myself  that  it  will  make  my  letters  to  you  more 
interesting.  You  ought  by  this  time  to  know  every 
caterpillar  on  the  sidewalk  at  Leeds,  for  I  am  sure 
I  have  written  them  all  up  for  your  benefit. 

But  this  is  simply  to  tell  you  that  I  am  here.  I 
do  not  call  it  a  letter.  I  will  try  to  write  you  a  letter, 
however,  before  I  go  away. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


II. 

HIS  MOTHEE  TO  HARKY. 

ATHERTON,  June  4. 

MY  DEAR  BOY,  —  It  is  wonderful  that  you  should 
be  in  Boston.  Do  not  forget  your  father's  cousin,  old 
Miss  Tryphena  Dexter.  I  have  no  idea  where  she 
lives ;  but  she  goes  to  Dr.  Gordon's  church,  or  did  go 
there.  It  will  please  her  more  than  I  can  tell  for  you 
to  go  and  see  her. 

Thank  you  for  writing  never  so  little. 

Your  poor  old  MOTHER. 

III. 

'—•        HARRY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  June  10,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  I  wrote  you  with  a  beastly 
pen,  and  ink  that  I  had  made  myself  by  pouring 
water  into  an  inkstand,  a  short  letter,  which  I  am 
afraid  you  could  not  read.  Since  I  wrote  that,  I  have 
seen  some  very  good-natured  people  who  print  a  news 
paper  here.  They  have  agreed,  for  a  consideration, 
to  put  all  my  letters  to  you  in  this  nice  type  in  which 
you  will  read  this,  —  so  that  I  shall  not  have  to  give 
you  the  new  spectacles  which  I  promised  you.  You 
must  not  be  troubled  about  the  letters  being  in  print. 
I  never  tell  you  any  lies,  and  nobody  will  know  who 
it  is.  I  do  not  see  why  anybody  else  should  take  the 
trouble  to  read  the  letters  ;  but  if  they  do  they  may, 
as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  and  I  do  not  think  it  will 
hurt  them. 

If  the  newspaper  people  are  satisfied,  that  is  all 
you  and  I  need  care  for. 

Dear  mother,  you  know  how  I  hate  to  write,  and 


4        '          THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

by  doing  this  I  get  the  great  advantage  that  I  need 
write  only  to  you,  and  do  not  have  to  get  up  a  lot 
of  scrub  side-letters  to  send  to  my  other  correspond 
ents.  Tor  all  I  have  to  do  is  to  fold  up  one  of  these 
newspapers,  and  send  it  to  Jerry,  or  to  Mr.  Wilder, 
or  to  Kansas  City,  and  the  thing  is  done.  I  am  sure 
I  would  rather  pay  rive  cents  for  a  good  printed  copy 
of  my  letter  and  a  cent  for  postage  than  write  another 
letter  any  day.  This  will  show  you  that  I  feel  pros 
perous,  and  that  I  am  happy. 

Now,  as  I  said,  I  have  a  chance  to  tell  you  some 
thing  about  Boston.  Who  was  it  —  you  used  to  read 
me  the  verses  —  that  said,  when  he  went  to  Rome, 
he  thought  Home  was  going  to  be  the  same  place  as 
his  own  village  made  bigger?  I  believe  it  was 
thought  best  to  laugh  at  this  old  sachem,  whoever 
he  was ;  but  I  am  rather  in  the  mood  to  think  that 
Boston  is  only  Leeds  under  a  magnifying-glass.  Any 
way,  I  could  have  sworn  that  the  piece  of  steak  they 
put  on  my  plate  this  morning  was  the  same  piece  I 
ate  at  Mrs.  Williams's  the  morning  I  came  away,  if 
only  I  had  not  inwardly  digested  that  beforehand. 
I  wish  I  knew  whether  these  funny  oval  bits  of  steak 
which  they  give  you  at  such  places  were  made  of 
horse  or  ox ;  but  I  don't  know. 

I  have  been  inquiring  a  good  deal  about  boarding- 
places  ;  but  I  will  not  bother  you  with  all  that.  First 
of  all,  I  desire  to  tell  you  about  my  visit  to  your  old 
friend ;  only  it  turned  out  that  she  had  hardly  seen 
you,  and  was  not  your  old  friend  at  all.  I  went  to 
Dr.  Gordon  the  evening  that  I  got  your  note.  He 
was  very  civil  and  nice,  but  knew  nothing  about  it. 
He  looked  on  his  indexes  and  in  his  visiting-list,  and 
it  was  clear  that  he  had  never  heard  of  this  Tryphena 
Dexter.  Indeed,  as  he  said,  Tryphena  was  not  a 
name  to  forget.  But  then  he  said  there  was  another 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  5 

Dr.  Gordon,  and  I  went  to  him,  a  nice,  cheerful  man, 
whom  I  know  I  shall  like ;  and  I  am  rather  glad  that 
you  gave  me  the  introduction  to  both  of  them,  for 
they  were  very  cordial,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  had  made 
two  friends  in  Boston.  The  new  Dr.  Gordon  knew 
all  about  Tryphena  Dexter,  although  she  does  not  go 
to  his  church,  and  has  not  been  there  for  twenty 
years.  But  she  has  near  friends  in  a  church  which 
took  off  some  members  of  their  church  when  it  was 
founded.  So  he  sent  me  to  one  of  their  deacons,  and 
he  gave  me  Tryphena  Dexter's  address  ;  and  the  next 
afternoon  I  went  there. 

I  do  not  know  how  you  thought  she  was  living,  or 
how  anybody  in  Atherton  thinks  she  is  living,  or 
whether  anybody  in  Atherton  cares  anything  about 
her.  And  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  the  old  lady  is 
not  very  comfortable  where  she  is ;  but  I  confess,  as 
I  went  up  three  flights  of  stairs  to  find  her,  I  hoped 
that  her  knees  and  legs  were  better  than  mine.  How 
ever,  when  I  came  there,  she  was,  as  you  say,  im 
mensely  pleased  to  see  me,  and  I  now  feel  as  if  I  had 
six  friends  in  Boston.  First,  our  treasurer,  who  is  to 
be  here;  second,  Mr.  Henry  Waldron  Curtis,  whose 
rooms  we  are  or  are  not  to  occupy ;  third,  Mr.  Good 
rich,  the  editor  of  "  The  Commonwealth ;  "  fourth, 
Dr.  Gordon  No.  1 ;  fifth,  Dr.  Gordon  No.  2 ;  and  this 
makes  six  for  Miss  Tryphena  Dexter.  She  is  wise 
beyond  account,  she  is  very  sententious,  and  I  am 
quite  clear  that  an  occasional  visit  to  her  will  give 
me  a  new  view  of  life. 

To  tell  you  the  truth,  when  you  gave  me  her  name, 
I  supposed  I  was  going  to  see  one  of  the  A 1  Boston 
ladies,  who  do  not  know  of  the  existence  of  anything 
five  miles  out  of  this  town ;  and  the  reason  I  followed 
her  up  so  closely  was  that  I  thought  she  could  tell 
me  of  some  quiet  place  where  they  would  like  to  have 


6  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

me  come  and  board.  But  it  is  quite  a  different  affair. 
I  found  a  nice  old  lady,— for  lady  she  is,— who  is 
living  along,  I  fancy,  on  some  very  small  quarterly 
dividends  of  some  stocks  which  have  not  panned  out 
as  well  as  could  be  wished,  who  is  on  the  books  of 
some  needlewomen's  society  or  other,  and  still  has 
eyesight  enough  to  do  firstrate  needle-work,  and  earns 
a  few  dollars  a  week  by  doing  so.  She  is  what  you 
and  I  would  call  very  poor ;  but  she  does  not  think 
she  is.  Her  position  is  so  entirely  better  than  that 
of  the  people  around  her  that  she  considers  herself  to 
be  quite  a  Lady  Bountiful  to  them. 

Fortunately  for  me,  she  was  not  at  all  deaf.  You 
know  I  hate  deaf  people.  I  always  think  that  they 
hear  when  they  want  to,  and  don't  hear  when  they  don't 
want  to,  and  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  I  am  not 
right.  But  fortunately  she  was  not  deaf  at  all.  It 
took  me  a  good  while  to  explain  who  I  was  and  why 
I  was  here.  But  then  she  knew  all  about  father  and 
you,  —  though  she  did  not  seem  to  have  a  very  distinct 
personal  recollection  of  you,  and  I  rather  think  her 
last  memory  of  you  was  when  you  were  held  in  your 
father's  arms  the  day  you  were  christened.  All  the 
same,  she  told  me  more  genealogy  than  I  have  heard 
since  I  was  born,  and  begged  me  to  come  again. 

Of  all  this  I  must  wait  to  tell  you  till  I  come  home 
—  only  that  she  is  funny  beyond  words.  Her  pride 
about  Boston  is  such  as  I  had  not  dreamed  of.  I 
should  have  thought  she  was  a  Champernoon  and  an 
Otis  and  a  Winthrop  all  rolled  into  one.  I  do  not 
know  whether  she  thought  it  would  wound  me  or  not, 
but,  with  the  greatest  asperity,  she  said  once  or  twice, 
"  Country  folks  is  fools."  I  hope  that  I  rated  as  one 
born  in  cities  from  having  lived  in  Leeds  for  the  last 
two  years.  Certainly  she  had  not  any  condescension 
toward  me.  On  the  other  hand  I  thought  she  was 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  7 

rather  flattered  to  have  a  fine  young  gentleman  "  wait 
ing  on  her,"  as  she  said. 

She  is  a  sort  of  magistrate,  I  should  think,  of  the 
whole  court,  which  is  a  little  narrow  crack,  of  houses 
five  stories  high,  where  the  sun  never  comes  in.  I 
could  tell  you  the  gossip  of  fifty  or  sixty  families 
there,  who,  according  to  her,  come  up  to  be  shrived 
and  brought  out  of  their  scrapes.  So  you  need  not  be 
afraid,  my  dear  mother,  that  if  I  should  be  picked  up 
by  the  police  in  the  night,  drunk  in  the  gutter,  or  if 
should  be  suspected  of  stealing  a  pocket  handkerchief 
at  Hovey's,  I  should  be  found  friendless  in  this  great 
city.  For  my  dear  Miss  Tryphena  will  appear,  either 
at  the  police  station  or  at  the  municipal  court,  and  will 
pull  me  through.  She  was  eager  that  I  should  under 
stand  how  experienced  she  was  in  all  city  ways.  The 
only  mistake  she  confessed  to  was  going  up  to  the 
sixth  story  at  Jordan  and  Marsh's  in  the  "refrigera 
tor,"  when  she  should  have  known  that  the  stockings 
she  wanted  to  buy  were  at  the  first  story  or  the  second. 
She  was  a  little  anxious  to  know  what  church  I  should 
attend,  and  offered  me  a  seat  with  her.  And  when  I 
told  her  that  William  was  going  to  take  me  round  to 
hear  Mr.  Haynes  on  Sunday  morning,  she  expressed 
herself  grimly  as  if  only  partly  satisfied. 

Mr.  Haynes,  you  see,  was  in  Tremont  Temple,  which 
is,  I  believe,  the  largest  congregation  in  Boston,  and 
he  is  now  in  the  People's  Church,  which  is  only  not  so 
large,  so  that  the  fame  of  both  these  branches  of  the 
vine  had  come  to  Miss  Tryphena's  ears. 

Briefly,  my  dear  mother,  I  love  her  and  she  loves 
me,  and  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  making 
me  go  there. 

Now  let  me  tell  you  something  that  is  even  more 
interesting.  It  was  clear  enough  yesterday  that  I  was 
of  no  use  to  the  firm,  and  I  had  the  afternoon  for  my- 


8  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

self.  The  day  was  as  beautiful  as  a  June  day  can  be, 
and,  at  William's  suggestion,  I  took  it  for  a  country 
spree.  As  far  as  I  can  see,  Boston  people  have  really 
a  better  command  of  country  life,  I  will  not  say  than 
you  have  in  Atherton,  but  certainly  than  we  had  in 
Leeds.  The  country  around  Leeds  is  just  as  beautiful 
as  the  country  around  here,  but  at  Leeds  we  do  not 
have  a  train  going  somewhere  every  five  minutes,  or 
if  there  is  no  train,  a  steamboat.  Anyway,  I  was  told 
to  go  to  Columbus  Avenue,  and  take  my  ticket  to 
Wellesley,  and  then  to  follow  my  hand,  or,  as  it  says 
in  Eollo,  do  as  the  rest  do.  I  hunted  up  George  Car- 
ruthers,  and  made  him  go  with  me,  but  he  did  not 
know  any  more  about  the  place  than  I  did.  Wellesley 
is,  I  should  think,  fifteen  miles  from  Boston.  When 
we  left  the  cars,  there  was  a  bevy  of  girls,  twenty  or 
thirty  I  should  think,  who  were  on  their  way  to 
Wellesley  College;  but  with  that,  of  course,  we  had 
nothing  to  do.  I  could  not  have  got  in  if  I  had  been 
a  girl,  because  I  could  not  pass  the  examinations ;  and 
I  was  not  a  girl.  But  the  barge  which  carries  girls  to 
the  college  goes  on,  for  any  loafers  like  us,  who  want 
to  see  the  Hunnewell  grounds. 

Now  please  to  understand  what  the  Hunnewell 
grounds  are.  This  Mr.  Hunnewell  seems  to  be  a 
friendly  gentleman  who  wants  to  be  of  use  to  all  the 
world.  Anyway,  he  has  laid  out  the  most  magnificent 
place  I  ever  heard  of  or  dreamed  of,  so  far  as  I  can 
see  for  the  benefit  of  all  mankind.  There  was  a  pretty 
porter's  lodge  at  the  entrance,  but  I  saw  no  porter  nor 
anybody  else  to  hinder  admission.  I  was  told  by  a 
friendly  man  whom  I  met  that  anybody  might  go  in 
and  walk  about  and  enjoy  everything  here,  but  that 
people  might  not  carry  in  lunch  baskets.  I  suppose 
Mr.  Hunnewell  has  the  same  horror  of  orange  peel 
and  papers  in  his  woods  that  I  have  of  seeing  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  £UCY.  9 

same  things  anywhere  when  I  am  out  in  the 
wilderness. 

First  of  all,  we  came  to  the  azalea  tent.  I  never 
dreamed  of  such  beauty'  of  color,  and  was  all  the  time 
wishing  that  you  were  there,  you  know  so  much  more 
about  these  things  than  I  do,  and  you  would  have 
known  how  to  dilate  with  the  right  emotion.  There 
were  seats  in  the  tent  for  anybody  to  sit  in,  and  there 
were  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  nice  little  chil 
dren,  and  one  old  fellow  in  a  white  necktie,  who  was, 
I  thought,  a  doctor  of  divinity.  Outside  the  tent  were 
great  tufts  of  native  azaleas  —  or  rather,  azaleas  which 
will  grow  in  the  open  air.  George  said  some  of  them 
were  from  the  Himalayas,  and  I  dare  say  they  were. 
It  occurs  to  me  now  that  you  may  have  seen  a  part  of 
this  collection  when  you  went  on  to  Philadelphia,  for 
this  very  gentleman  was  at  the  pains  to  establish  an 
azalea  and  rhododendron  exhibition  at  the  time  of 
the  Centennial. 

Outside  the  tent  we  walked  and  walked.  We 
came  to  an  Italian  garden,  where  they  have  those 
queer  trimmed  trees  that  you  see  pictures  of  in  the 
books  and  that  you  read  about  in  the  old  English 
novels.  Below  this  is  a  great  pond,  which  I  believe  is 
dignified  by  the  name  of  Waban  Lake,  and  on  the 
other  side  we  could  see  the  girls'  college,  with  their 
boats.  In  another  place  there  is  a  rhododendron 
house,  with  as  large  variety  of  color  and  blossom  as 
there  is  among  the  azaleas.  And  I  am  not  sure  but  I 
was  most  pleased  of  all  with  the  wealth  of  native 
wild  flowers,  —  such  things  as  I  have  read  about  in 
Gray  and  as  I  have  heard  you  talk  about,  but  as  I 
never  saw  before.  Don't  you  remember  how  you  tried  to 
make  me  find  the  elegant  lady's  slipper,  the  white  and 
pink  one,  up  in  Vermont,  and  that  I  could  not  find  it  ? 
Here  they  were  growing  just  as  if  they  were  at  home. 


10  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

In  short,  dear  mother,  it  is  a  place  that  would  drive 
you  nearly  crazy,  so  perhaps  it  is  as  well  that  you  did 
not  go.  But  I  could  not  help  thinking  what  a  good 
fad  it  is  for  a  man  to  have !  One  man  has  boats,  one 
man  has  horses,  and  here  is  somebody  who  is  willing 
to  lay  out  two  or  three  hundred  acres  —  I  do  not  know 
how  many  —  in  the  most  beautiful  fashion,  and  just 
throw  them  open  for  the  world  to  enjoy,  so  long  as  the 
world  will  enjoy  them  without  doing  them  any  harm. 
That  is  what  your  parson  would  call  the  twentieth 
century,  I  am  sure. 

As  we  came  back  another  thing  turned  up  which 
makes  me  more  sure  that  Boston  must  be  a  comfort 
able  place  to  live  in  than  anything  I  had  seen.  The 
train  stopped  at  a  place  called  Riverside  and  took  on 
a  car  that  was  waiting  there.  We  had  not  good  seats, 
so  we  went  back.  There  were  sixty  or  eighty  people, 
some  with  great  bunches  of  wild  flowers,  and  all  with 
some  token  that  they  had  been  in  the  country.  George 
fell  into  talk  with  a.  lady  whom  he  knew,  and  it 
turned  up  that  they  had  all  been  up  to  Riverside, 
where  I  had  noticed  great  fleets  of  boats  on  both 
sides  of  the  bridge,  and  these  boats  are  for  anybody 
who  chooses  to  use  them  "  to  the  extent  of  sixpence." 

So,  if  you  can  get  an  afternoon  off,  you  can  ride  up 
to  Riverside  in  twenty  minutes,  hire  a  canoe  or  a  boat 
or  anything  else  you  want,  and  go  paddling  or  rowing 
up  or  down  this  pretty  river.  Judging  from  what  we 
saw,  plenty  of  people  have  found  this  out  and  availed 
themselves  of  it.  One  of  the  ladies  said  that  the 
Waltham  people  do  the  same  thing.  That  is  the  place 
where  they  make  the  watches.  There  are  boat-houses 
there,  and  they  come  up  the  river,  as  people  from 
Riverside  go  down. 

Now  all  this  is  different,  of  course,  from  harnessing 
up  the  horse  and  riding  over  to  Cat  Head  or  to  Purga- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  11 

tory,  as  we  do  at  home.  But  it  has  its  advantages,  as 
you  see.  You  make  as  big  a  party  as  you  want,  or  as 
small.  You  go  off  at  a  minute's  notice,  and  these 
people  have  to  keep  the  boats  waiting  for  you  all  the 
time.  You  do  not  find  that  the  last  rain  has  filled  them 
full  of  water,  you  do  not  have  to  sponge  them,  and 
you  do  not  have  to  go  up  to  Mrs.  Edwards' s  for  the 
oars. 

I  must  leave  till  my  next  letter  the  account  of  my 
boarding-place,  which  is  on  the  whole  so  comfortable 
that  I  think  I  shall  tell  Mrs.  Metcalf  that  I  will  en 
gage  rooms  for  the  winter  if  we  come.  She  is  glad  to 
know  what  the  chances  are,  for  at  this  season  all  her 
boarders  go  off  into  the  country,  and  she,  poor  soul,  is 
left  lamenting ;  and  even  a  half  chance  at  a  "  regular  " 
in  the  autumn  is  better  than  nothing.  I  have  hardly 
made  any  acquaintance  with  the  people  who  are  there. 
Now  I  will  only  say  that  it  seems  to  be  a  decent 
place,  and  that,  if  I  have  tolerable  luck,  I  shall  not 
be  uncomfortable.  You  know  perfectly  well  that  I 
shall  never  be  as  comfortable  anywhere  as  I  am  at 
home. 

What  will  interest  you  more  is  to  know  about  my  ex 
perience  at  the  People's  Church.  I  had  seen  it  as  I 
passed  by,  but  I  need  not  say  I  was  an  entire  stranger 
there.  It  stands  just  in  the  middle  of  Boston,  though 
the  Boston  people  do  not  know  this ;  they  think  it 
is  a  good  deal  out  of  the  way.  But  it  is  really  on  the 
corner  of  two  of  the  principal  streets,  by  which  I 
mean  the  streets  that  most  people  pass  through.  It 
was  built  a  few  years  ago  by  a  sort  of  general  contri 
bution  among  the  Methodists,  that  they  might  have  a 
church  for  everybody  to  go  to,  —  such  people  as  me, 
for  instance,  —  and  it  seems  to  me  that  I  shall  rather 
like  it.  This  corner  that  I  tell  you  of,  of  the  two 
great  streets,  is  interesting  in  a  way.  On  one  corner 


12  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

is  a  Presbyterian  church.  They  told  me  it  was  Dr. 
Dunn's,  —  he  is  the  famous  Committee  of  One  Hun 
dred  man,  —  but  there  is  another  name  on  the  sign ; 
for  we  have  signs  on  the  churches  here,  so  that  people 
need  not  hear  a  Baptist  minister  by  mistake  when 
they  think  they  are  hearing  a  Universalist.  On  an 
other  corner  is  our  People's  Church.  On  another  is  a 
great  building  going  up  for  the  Youth's  Companion ; 
so  you  can  tell  Tom  that  I  can  get  him  his  numbers 
very  early  as  I  come  out  of  church.  It  seems  to  me 
there  ought  to  be  a  public  building  on  the  other  corner, 
but  if  there  is  I  have  forgotten  it.  When  you  get  into 
the  church,  it  does  not  look  like  any  church  that  I  was 
ever  in  before ;  the  seats  are  in  semicircles,  and  rise 
exactly  as  they  do  at  the  theatre,  and  there  is  one 
great  gallery.  The  windows  are  of  stained  glass,  but 
the  place  is  not  inconveniently  dark.  There  is  a  great 
large  platform  so  that  the  speaker  could  walk  about 
as  much  as  he  wanted  to.  But  Mr.  Haynes  is  not 
much  that  kind,  and  did  not  do  a  great  deal  in  that 
way.  I  took  some  notes  of  the  sermon,  which  perhaps 
I  will  write  out  for  you  some  day,  but  just  now  I  will 
only  say  that  the  whole  thing  was  cheerful,  everybody 
was  cordial,  and  I  was  very  glad  I  was  there. 

In  the  afternoon  Carruthers  had  had  enough  church- 
going.  But  I  went  to  hear  the  new  Bishop.  You 
know  you  always  said  we  should  not  go  to  church  to 
hear  preaching,  but  to  worship  God.  I  was  not  pun 
ished,  however.  Mr.  Brooks  did  not  preach,  but  a 
nice,  manly  fellow  named  Eoberts  did.  I  should  be 
glad  to  see  and  hear  more  of  him.  The  church  is  all 
you  said. 

On  the  whole,  dear  mother,  I  am  quite  clear  that  I 
shall  not  find  the  time  hang  heavy  in  Boston.  I  do 
not  want  you  to  feel  that  I  am  in  the  midst  of  lions 
and  tigers,  or  serpents  and  scorpions.  The  people  are 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  13 

very  much,  like  the  people  that  you  and  I  are  used  to. 
They  do  put  their  heads  forward  in  the  streets  a  little 
more  than  I  think  is  good  for  them.  They  are  all  in 
a  terrible  hurry  for  fear  they  should  miss  their  trains. 
There  is  a  slight  expression  of  anxiety  on  their  faces 
when  you  stop  them  to  ask  the  way,  as  if  they  were 
afraid  they  might  lose  some  important  appointment. 
But  these  are  mere  tricks  of  manner,  and  I  shall  soon 
get  used  to  them.  On  the  other  hand,  they  are  per 
fectly  cordial  to  strangers,  they  are  entirely  satisfied 
with  the  place  they  live  in,  and  if  they  resent  a  little 
the  intimation  that  there  is  any  other  place  in  the 
world,  that  is  much  the  same  as  you  find  anywhere. 
I  know  a  man  in  Leeds  who  is  sure  that  Leeds  is  the 
hub  of  the  universe,  and  I  think  you  may  recollect 
one  or  two  of  our  neighbors  who  think  the  same  thing 
of  Atherton. 


14  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  SECOND. 

IV. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  June  20,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  do  not  see  how  you  could 
have  expected  any  letter  from  me  before  now,  as  you 
sent  me  no  mention  of  your  whereabouts,  and  you 
gave  me  no  address ;  you  only  told  me  you  were  not 
going  to  stay  at  Denver.  However,  I  will  confess 
that  I  have  not  had  a  minute's  time  to  write.  How 
could  I  find  it,  in  my  first  week  in  Boston  ?  So  I 
contented  myself  with  sending  you  that  message  by 
Caroline,  trusting  that  she  will  have  told  you  how  we 
all  met  at  the  Graduating  Exercises,  and  how  she  car 
ried  me  all  over  the  Technology  Building.  But  that 
was  on  Tuesday,  and,  my  dear,  on  Thursday  I  was 
to  present  myself  for  "  registration  "  and  the  entrance 
examinations  for  the  University!  So  you  can  ima 
gine  that  I  did  not  really  have  my  senses,  that  day, 
nor  the  next,  nor  all  that  week,  indeed. 

And  perhaps  Carrie  told  you  how  I  was  staying  at 
Aunt  Martha's,  and  how  kind  they  all  are  to  me. 
You  know  she  is  not  really  my  aunt,  but  an  old  friend 
of  my  mother's ;  and  they  are  so  hospitable,  and 
would  like  to  have  me  stay  on  with  them  next  winter 
and  all  through  my  University  work,  so  they  say. 
But  my  family  don't  like  the  idea,  and  I  don't,  of  my 
being  dependent  upon  them.  Besides,  they  always 
have  their  house  full  anyhow,  and  perhaps  Jane 
comes  on  from  the  West  next  winter,  with  all  her 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  15 

children ;  but  they  all  say  they  would  find  room  for  me. 
There  is  so  much  going  on  in  the  house,  however, 
that  it  is  quite  bewildering,  —  everybody  says  this  is 
the  Boston  way,  —  and  I  am  afraid  I  should  not  easily 
find  time  for  study,  so  I  resist  all  entreaties  to  stay. 
But  it  has  been  very  good  here  for  these  few  weeks ; 
only  I  am  sure  it  is  not  a  picture  of  my  Boston  as 
it  is  to  be. 

I  hope  it  is  not !  It  is  all  quite  too  confusing.  Yes, 
Graduating  Exercises  at  the  Technology  Tuesday  af 
ternoon,  and  Boston  University  Graduating  Exercises 
Wednesday  afternoon,  my  examinations  Thursday. 

I  ought  to  go  back  and  talk  more  about  Tuesday. 
I  got  in  late,  but  succeeded  in  joining  Carrie  and  the 
others;  and  how  we  talked  over  last  summer,  and 
of  how  little  we  expected  then  all  to  meet  here  in 
Boston!  But  I  determined  to  write  you  about  a 
lovely  dress  a  girl  had  on,  who  sat  near  me,  because 
she  reminded  me  of  you ;  and  it  was  so  sweet,  the 
dress,  a  lilac,  soft  material,  that  would  be  so  becom 
ing  to  you,  —  some  kind  of  woollen ;  I  wished  I  could 
ask  her  for  a  pattern !  Plaited  ruffles  up  from  the 
waist,  and  round  the  neck ;  and  such  a  pretty  hat ! 
and  fan  with  lilac  flowers  on  it;  gray  gloves  fitting 
perfect !  Can't  you  see  her  ? 

Aunt  Martha  wanted  me  to  go  that  afternoon  to 
the  Tremont  Temple  to  see  the  exhibition  of  the 
Blind  Institution.  It  was  so  touching  and  lovely 
as  she  told  about  it,  —  and  the  chance  to  see  Helen 
Keller !  Just  think  of  her  describing  scenes  in 
geography,  and  of  her  wondering  "what  Romulus 
would  say  if  he  came  back  to  Rome  to-day  !  "  Well, 
one  can't  do  all  things  ;  and  this  would  always  be  the 
way  if  I  stayed  on  in  this  house,  I  should  have  so 
many  things  distracting  me  I  should  be  in  a  flutter 
of  excitement  as  to  which  I  ought  to  do.  You  see 


16  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

I  can't  help  going  over  the  pros  and  cons  with  you; 
for,  besides  my  examinations,  what  I  came  up  to  Bos 
ton  for  was  to  plan  out  my  next  winter's  life,  —  a 
very  sober  one,  as  I  laid  it  out  on  a  very  economical 
plan ;  but  I  won't  discuss  it  now. 

Wednesday  afternoon,  the  Graduating  Exercises  of 
"my"  Boston  University;  and  what  do  you  think, 
that  evening  Cousin  Rupert  insisted  upon  my  going 
with  him  to  the  theatre  !  In  the  midst  of  it  all,  with 
my  examinations  hanging  over  me  for  the  next  day  ! 

I  had  planned  doing  a  little  studying  that  evening 
in  a  little  room  that  opens  out  of  the  library  here,  so 
quiet,  and  where  Aunt  Martha  said  I  might  have  my 
books  all  to  myself. 

Of  course,  it  was  foolish  to  think  I  could  do  any 
thing  more  with  my  preparation  for  the  next  day's 
work ;  but  I  did  want  to  look  at  my  Algebra,  and  I 
thought  it  would  calm  me  to  read  a  little  Cicero ! 

But  Aunt  Martha  and  all  of  them  insisted  I  had 
better  join  the  theatre  party ;  and  oh,  it  was  lovely, 
—  Shakspeare,  my  dear  !  —  "  Love's  Labor  Lost ;  " 
and  Cousin  Rupert  had  so  much  to  tell  about  its  be 
ing  one  of  Shakspeare's  earliest  plays,  and  how  you 
could  trace  the  characters  that  appear  afterward  in 
later  plays,  more  complete  ;  and  it  all  seemed  very 
instructive,  and  Miss  Rehan  was  lovely,  and  Rosaline  ! 
Somehow,  they  did  take  me  out  of  my  day's  expe 
riences,  and  of  my  to-morrow's  fears ! 

You  see  it  had  been  rather  a  day !  I  started  o  t 
by  myself  at  noon,  and  among  other  things  meaii 
to  go  into  Houghton  &  Mifflin's,  on  Park  Street,  for  a 
book.  But  the  family  here  have  so  laughed  at  my 
mistake,  for  the  street-car  took  me  on,  a  street  too 
far,  and  I  got  out  at  Houghton  &  Button's,  —  where 
they  do  sell  books,  but  everything  else  too  !  I  saw 
I  had  made  some  kind  of  mistake,  and  I  was  bewil- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  17 

dered  by  all  the  elevators,  and  the  shop  in  itself  as 
large  as  a  city !  So  I  tried  to  compose  myself  by 
getting  a  lunch  in  the  upper  story,  coming  down  to 
buy  some  ruching  and  note-paper,  and  to  find  that 
they  had  not  my  book,  and  that  I  had  only  just  time 
to  get  over  to  the  Tremont  Temple  and  the  Gradua 
tion  Exercises. 

I  must  confess  here  that  I  am  often  terribly  giddy 
at  the  crowds  at  the  street  crossings,  and  there  is  a 
fearful  place  at  this  corner  of  School  Street.  Happily, 
here  is  a  policeman,  to  whom  I  now  venture  to  trust 
myself,  and  who  helps  one  across  in  safety.  They  do 
say  that  sometimes  you  do  not  see  him,  and  that  he 
has  probably  been  killed  in  a  collision  the  day  be 
fore  ;  but  this  may  be  an  exaggeration,  and  I  don't 
quite  believe  it. 

Meanwhile,  Wednesday  afternoon,  mamma  ap 
peared.  She  came  down  to  the  meeting  of  her  be 
loved  Society  for  Encouraging  Studies  at  Home,  to 
which  I  owe  so  much,  for  she  learned  there  how 
important  all  such  education  is  for  women.  So  while 
I  was  struggling  with  my  examinations,  she  was  try 
ing  to  calm  her  mind  by  listening  to  the  interesting 
papers  that  were  read  there ;  and  I  do  think  that  she 
was  much  encouraged  in  letting  me  go  on  and  take  an 
university  course,  by  what  Mrs.  Richards  said  so  for 
cibly  as  to  the  importance  of  a  thorough  education 
for  a  woman,  and  how  much  she  could  learn  away 
from  home  that  she  could  carry  back  to  help  in  ele 
vating  her  home. 

I  have  mailed  to  you  the  pamphlet,  "  Ad  Sollemnia 
Academica,"  to  show  you  how  interesting  the  exer 
cises  were  of  the  graduates  of  the  Boston  University, 
and  have  marked  for  you  what  seemed  to  me  most 
interesting.  "  Solemn,"  indeed,  they  all  seemed  to 
me,  when  I  felt  that  this  was  indeed  the  "  commence- 


18  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

ment "  of  my  university  work,  and  all  through  my 
racketty  gay  life  since,  some  of  the  solemn  words  I 
heard  then  hang  over  me,  and  seem  to  consecrate  my 
next  year's  life. 

For  a  "  racketty  "  life  you  will  think  I  have  had  this 
week,  ending  off  in  yesterday's  Class  Day  at  Cam 
bridge  ;  and  beginning  with  "  Float  Day"  at  Wellesley ! 
You  can  imagine  how  the  time  is  tilled  up,  and  how 
my  head  is  turned,  —  I,  who  never  was  out  of  Vermont 
before,  and  had  never  been  nearer  a  theatre  than 
Barnum's  circus,  on  occasional  hot  days  in  summer,  — 
imagine  me,  going  to  see  "Niobe  "  one  night,  "Monte 
Cristo "  with  Salvini  another,  and  evening  concerts 
at  the  Music  Hall !  Cousin  Eupert  insisted  upon  my 
doing  all  these  things,  as  the  family  here  are  all  going 
away  next  week,  and  he  declares  that  I  shall  be  left  to 
absolute  solitude.  He  insists  that  there  will  not  be 
another  human  being  remaining  in  Boston ;  you  will 
have  opportunity  to  see  if  this  is  true,  from  my  let 
ters!  Besides  these  evening  excitements,  the  days 
have  been  filled  in. 

Yes,  my  dear,  I  have  been  to  the  Cat  show,  mainly 
on  your  account.  Of  course  you  would  go  if  you  were 
here,  and  you  remember  that  I  admire  cats  seen  in 
the  distance,  though  I  do  not  love  them  crawling  all 
over  me  as  you  do  !  Now  there  was  no  danger  of  their 
coming  out  of  their  cages,  and  1  could  venture.  The 
weather  has  been  very  trying  for  these  poor  beasts, 
as  well  as  for  the  humans ;  so,  as  I  went  in  the  middle 
of  a  warm  day,  I  found  them  very  torpid.  The 
"  Wideawakest "  of  all  usually,  as  1  was  told  (pro 
nounced  to  me  as  if  Italian,  "  Veedavarkest ")  was  the 
"  longest  cat ;  "  but  even  he  was  fast  asleep,  with  his 
head  bent  under  his  front  paws.  Still,  the  show  is  in 
teresting,  with  two  handsome,  tawny-yellow  cats,  a 
splendid  Angora,  and  other  choice  specimens.  I  fell  in 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY,  19 

love  with  a  fluffy,  brown-feathered  owl,  whose  e'xpres- 
sion  was  so  wise  that  I  don't  wonder  that  Minerva 
should  choose  him  for  a  constant  companion ;  this  owl 
is  one  of  a  "  happy  family,"  living  with  an  excellent 
cat  and  other  choice  companions.  The  little  monkey 
is  ever  interesting. 

I  wanted  to  give  a  seriousness  to  the  week  by  going 
to  the  oration  in  honor  of  June  17,  and  I  felt  that  I 
ought  to  go  out  to  Bunker  Hill  that  day  of  all  days. 
But  the  family  here  insisted  there  would  be  too  much 
of  a  crowd,  and  we  must  all  go  down  the  harbor  in 
their  yacht. 

And  such  lovely  drives  have  been  interspersed.  The 
surroundings  of  Boston  are  so  much  a  part  of  Boston 
that  I  do  think  I  am  fortunate  in  seeing  it  all  for  the 
first  time  in  June,  as  you  see  I  do  now.  Just  the 
drive  to  the  Chestnut  Hill  Reservoir  is  perfect,  and 
Saturday  morning  we  had  the  beautiful  view  from  the 
"  Arboretum  "  when  we  slowly  went  up  through  the 
trees  to  a  point  where  we  could  look  off  and  see  the 
water. 

I  am  always  complaining  here,  that  we  can't  see 
more  of  the  sea  or  even  the  harbor.  You  would  never 
imagine  that  Boston  is  a  sea-port,  and  I  am  disap 
pointed  that  there  is  no  place  where  I  can  go  to  see 
the  great  ships  going  out  and  coming  in !  The  family 
all  laugh  at  me  for  this  desire  of  mine,  and  they  are 
very  good  in  taking  me  on  drives  to  places  where  we 
can  see  the  rare  and  distant  view  of  the  harbor. 

As  we  drive  luxuriously,  T  am  constantly  fancying 
how  I  shall,  through  the  summer,  go  off  by  myself  in 
a  more  simple  manner,  in  open  street  cars,  to  all  the 
lovely  parks  that  are  open  to  everybody.  But  Aunt 
Martha  is  very  much  afraid  I  shall  come  to  grief  by 
myself,  and  is  giving  me  all  kinds  of  warnings.  The 
street  cars  are  indeed  very  bewildering,  and  I  must 


20  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

acknowledge  that  I  have  a  facility  for  making  mis 
takes. 

I  must  tell  the  history  of  one  of  my  last  week's 
muddles,  though  it  is  a  terrible  confession.  We  were 
to  go  to  lunch  at  Chestnut  Hill,  with  a  friend  of  Aunt 
Martha's,  —  my  cousin  Maria  and  I.  She  wanted  to  go 
down  town  first,  and  so  would  take  the  steam  train  at 
the  station  on  Albany  Street,  and  I  was  to  meet  her  at 
the  Columbus  Avenue  station  farther  up  town.  Cousin 
Eupert  went  with  me  to  this  station,  and  explained 
just  what  train  I  must  take,  telling  me  that  I  must  be 
all  ready  for  it  on  the  platform  as  I  should  have  to 
hurry  into  it,  and  he  had  to  leave  me. 

He  got  the  ticket-man  to  tell  me  just  which  train  it 
would  be,  and  he  left  me.  The  trains  came  whizzing 
along  in  either  direction,  stopping  and  going  on,  and  I 
suppose  I  got  bewildered,  though  I  am  very  sure  I 
took  the  "second"  train  as  I  was  told.  But  I  soon 
found  out,  after  hurrying  into  the  car  and  the  train 
getting  off,  that  the  next  stopping  place  was  Newton, 
and  that  I  was  on  the  wrong  track,  as  Chestnut  Hill 
is  off  on  a  branch ! 

I  asked  all  sorts  of  questions,  and  everybody  got 
interested  in  me,  and  they  all  say  now  I  kept  my 
head  pretty  well;  for  when  I  found  I  really  had 
missed  the  lunch  at  Chestnut  Hill,  with  no  hope  of 
reaching  it  in  time,  I  inquired  about  Auburndale,  and 
found  I  could  go  on  and  be  left  there. 

It  did  not  happen  to  be  their  Commencement  Day 
at  Lasell,  which  came  off  a  week  ago,  but  there  was 
Annie  Davis  on  the  platform,  and  she  took  me  down 
to  the  Riverside,  where  was  a  canoe,  and  a  friend  of 
hers  who  took  us  out  on  the  river,  and  then  we  had 
lunch,  and  then,  only  think  of  it !  they  drove  me  over 
to  Chestnut  Hill,  where  I  had  to  apologize  for  my  stu 
pidity  —  a  lovely  place  —  and  I  am  afraid  they  will 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  21 

never  invite  me  again ;  how  should  they,  when  I  had 
seemed  so  rude  and  impolite  ? 

But  this  letter  must  go,  though  I  have  not  yet  said 
a  word  to  you  about  my  future  plans.     I  can  only  say, 
as  if  I  were  writing  a  serial  novel :  To  be  continued. 
From  yours, 

LUCY. 


22  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTEE  THIED. 

V. 

HARRY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  June  21,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  It  was  very  shabby  in  me 
to  send  you  nothing  but  a  postal-card  last  Sunday, 
after  all  my  grand  talk  about  long  letters.  But  I  am 
sorry  to  say  these  "  Commonwealth "  people  have 
found  up  another  person  whose  letters  they  are  going 
to  print,  and  they  think  they  can  only  have  mine 
once  a  fortnight ;  so  that  on  the  week  between  you 
will  have  to  be  satisfied  with  letters  of  the  old  sort. 
Naturally  I  shall  write  more  now,  and  it  may  be  that 
you  will  get  all  you  can  read.  Who  this  other  per 
son  is  I  do  not  know ;  but  I  see  by  the  paper  that  she 
is  a  woman.  It  is  cheaper  for  me  to  send  you  all  the 
papers  as  I  do,  clubbing  them  with  your  beloved 
"  Harper,"  than  it  would  be  for  me  to  mail  my  sepa 
rate  copies ;  so  you  will  have  to  read  the  woman's 
letters  as  well  as  mine.  If  you  do  not  want  to  read 
them,  you  can  use  them  to  clean  the  flat-irons,  or  in 
winter  to  kindle  the  stove  fire,  or  for  both.  I  have 
already  found  it  an  immense  convenience  to  be  able 
to  send  my  letters  to  the  boys  without  writing  them 
again.  This  is  all  by  way  of  apology. 

I  am  surprised  that  the  Company  keeps  me  here  so 
long.  It  shows  we  are  prosperous,  does  it  not,  that 
my  salary  should  go  on  all  the  same  as  if  I  were 
sweating  myself  to  death,  with  the  thermometer  at 
150,  in  that  old  office  at  Leeds  ?  If  they  don't  care, 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  23 

I  don't  care ;  and  I  hope  I  may  be  of  some  use  to 
somebody,  as  you  will  see. 

Of  course  I  understand  Boston  better  than  the 
people  do  who  have  lived  here  fifty  years.  I  am  very 
much  pleased  to  see  that  one  of  my  remarks  has  been 
copied  in  the  "  Transcript,"  which  is  the  paper  that 
everybody  reads  and  swears  by.  If  you  understood 
Boston  as  well  as  I  do,  you  would  know  that  the 
greatest  occasion  of  the  year  is  Class  Day.  The  bat 
tle  of  Bunker  Hill  is  a  very  great  day.  If  you  care 
anything  about  it,  it  is  St.  Botolph's  Day,  —  the 
saint's-day  of  the  man  who  gave  the  English  Boston 
his  name ;  but  I  believe  nobody  in  the  world  knows 
this  excepting  me  and  the  man  who  told  me.  I  ob 
served  that  there  were  no  special  ceremonies  in  the 
Catholic  churches,  and  they  will  not  know  it  them 
selves  till  they  read  this  letter  in  "The  Common 
wealth."  All  the  same,  the  forefathers,  without 
knowing  it,  fought  their  battle  on  St.  Botolph's  Day, 
and  so  all  parties  in  Boston  had  a  holiday.  For  my 
part,  I  went  fishing,  and  do  not  know  what  happened 
in  town ;  but  over  in  Charlestown  they  have  a  very 
funny  celebration,  which  is  a  sort  of  carnival. 

But  I  spoke  of  that  merely  by  accident,  because, 
though  in  the  newspapers  they  pretend  it  is  a  great 
day,  they  do  not  really  care  anything  about  it  at  all. 
AVhat  they  do  care  about  is  Class  Day,  which  comes 
somewhere  in  the  middle  of  June  ;  and  to  that  all  the 
young  people  go  who  can  go.  Now  that  there  are 
two  or  three  thousand  students  at  Cambridge,  it  is 
pretty  clear  that,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  you  can  get 
tickets  to  something  ;  and  if  you  have  not  any  tickets, 
you  can  "run  your  face,"  —  which  is  very  much  what 
I  did,  quite  sure  that  something  would  happen  to  me 
before  the  day  was  done.  Observe  that  Class  Day 
this  year  came  day  before  yesterday.  There  is  some 


24  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

order  of  the  planets,  I  do  not  know  what,  which 
settles  it,  and  I  think  it  always  comes  on  Friday. 

I  suppose  grand  people  go  in  carriages,  but  for  my 
part  the  electric  cars  are  generally  good  enough  for  me, 
and  I  have  now  learned  how  to  take  them.  The  rule 
they  give  to  all  strangers  in  Boston,  who  wish  to  learn 
their  way,  is  to  find  out  in  what  direction  the  place  is, 
and  then  to  take  a  street-car  which  goes  the  other  way. 
This  works  generally  very  well,  particularly  because 
nobody  knows  how  much  he  has  gone  astray,  or  if  he 
does  know,  takes  care  not  to  tell.  But  since  I  have 
been  here  I  have  been  in  good  hands,  so  that  I  believe 
I  have  made  no  mistake.  George  went  with  me,  as 
I  like  to  have  him,  and  he  made  it,  or  they  made 
it,  some  sort  of  a  holiday  at  the  bank,  so  that  he 
might  go. 

•  Cambridge  is  a  pretty  place,  all  overgrown  with  elm. 
trees,  and  on  Class  Day  it  had  the  advantage  of  being 
more  than  reasonably  cool.  When  I  was  there  before 
it  was  so  hot  that  the  shoes  were  almost  burnt  off  my 
feet,  and  the  fellows  say  it  can  be  awfully  dusty. 
Carruthers  says  that  the  joke  used  to  be  that  the 
people  started  a  college  there  because  nobody  had 
taken  up  the  land  for  farming,  it  being  too  sandy  to 
grow  even  trees.  Somehow  or  other,  they  have  got 
some  trees  growing  since,  and  the  college  grounds 
are  very  pretty.  But  Class  Day  involves  a  great 
deal  more  than  the  college  grounds,  for  you  might 
say  that  almost  every  large  house  which  has  a  large 
garden  around  it  had  been  retained  by  some  of  the 
fellows  for  the  purposes  of  a  spread.  This  year 
there  are  so  many  spreads  that  they  began  the  night 
before,  but  that,  I  think,  is  an  innovation. 

We  meant  to  do  the  thing  brown,  and  we  went 
bravely  to  the  morning  exercises.  I  say  this,  because 
the  young  people,  in  their  dancing  shoes  and  gay 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  25 

dresses,  are  a  little  apt  to  reserve  themselves  for 
the  dancing  of  the  afternoon,  and  not  to  come  to 
hear  orations  and  poems.  But  in  truth  the  whole 
thing  began  with  an  oration  and  a  poem,  from  which, 
by  a  gradual  evolution,  has  come  the  dancing,  which 
is  now  considered  by  some  people  the  more  important 
of  the  two.  Carruthers  was  as  good  as  gold,  as  he 
always  is.  We  had  no  tickets  to  Sanders,  as  the 
place  is  called,  but  we  waited  on  the  outside  for  the 
procession.  The  procession  means  the  whole  senior 
class,  —  in  this  case  more  than  three  hundred,  — all  in 
swallow-tailed  coats  and  new  silk  hats  which  looked 
as  if  they  had  never  been  worn  before.  There  was  a 
band,  and  they  marched  round  the  college  yard  and  so 
went  into  Memorial  Hall,  we  tagging  after  them  as 
little  boys  do  after  a  company  of  soldiers. 

However,  when  we  arrived  at  Memorial  Hall,  the 
moment  they  had  got  in  the  door  was  shut  in  our 
faces.  We  laughed,  as  did  a  company  of  other  people 
who  were  shut  out  in  the  same  fashion.  It  was  ex 
plained,  however,  that  the  door  would  be  opened  as 
soon  as  the  prayer  was  done.  This  was  edifying  to 
me,  because  it  showed  how  sacred  and  secret  they 
were,  —  that  we  were  not  good  enough  to  pray  with  the 
others  or  for  them.  However,  this  all  proved  to  be  a 
mistake  ;  for  when  we  came  in  the  theatre,  after  all, 
the  prayer  had  not  begun,  and  we  prayed  as  well  as 
the  rest. 

You  go  in  first  to  what  is,  I  suppose,  the  proper 
Memorial  Hall.  I  did  not  stop  to  look  at  it  then,  be 
cause  we  were  rushing  to  get  the  best  seats.  But  in 
fact  there  are  tablets  all  around  it,  which  tell  the 
names  of  the  boys  who  died  in  the  War.  You  know  I 
always  say  I  am  one  of  the  children  of  the  public,  and 
the  powers  which  take  care  of  them  took  care  of  me. 
For  somebody  or  other  had  a  headache  at  the  last 


26  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

moment,  and  did  not  use  her  tickets,  just  in  front  of 
the  speakers.  As  we  hustled  in,  Carruthers  spoke  to 
one  of  the  professors,  who  seemed  to  be  in  much  the 
same  fix  as  we  were,  and  he  very  kindly  led  us  right 
round  to  the  place  as  if  he  knew  all  about  it,  so  that 
we  were  as  well  off  as  if  we  were  the  king  and  queen. 
I  observed  that  the  real  king  and  queen,  President 
Eliot  and  his  wife,  sat  exactly  in  the  middle,  in  front 
of  the  speakers. 

As  I  say,  after  we  were  well  in,  one  of  the  profes 
sors  came  forward  and  offered  prayer,  and  there  was 
music  by  a  band  who  were  in  a  gallery  high  up  over 
the  platform,  and  then  the  speaking  began.  I  thought 
it  more  than  fairly  good.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
fun,  which  of  course  the  class  understood  more  than 
anybody  else  did.  The  poem  was  in  a  good  helter- 
skelter,  go-as-you-please  sort  of  metre.  The  ivy  ora 
tion  was  capitally  well  delivered,  with  hits  right  and 
left,  some  at  the  government,  some  at  the  class,  some 
at  the  other  classes,  and  most  of  all  at  Yale,  which  were 
taken  goodnaturedly,  and  by  a  good,  quick  audience. 
It  is  always  funny  to  see  how  the  elect  applaud  first, 
and  then  a  second  set  of  people,  who  have  to  think  out 
what  the  humor  means,  applaud  afterwards.  This  was 
so  with  this  audience,  just  as  much  as  with  any  other. 

When  I  came  out  Carruthers  introduced  me  to  one 
of  his  friends  who  is  of  this  very  graduating  class,  and 
he  took  us  around  to  his  room,  and  here  there  was  a 
sandwich  and  a  cup  of  coffee,  and  it  made,  I  may  as 
well  say  once  for  all,  a  convenient  resting-place  in  the 
business  of  the  day.  This  was  not  what  is  called  a 
spread  precisely,  but  was  a  comfortable  little  lunch 
for  anybody  who  comes  or  goes,  and  such  little  lunches 
materially  facilitate,  as  you  can  understand,  the  busi 
ness  of j  what  is,  on  the  whole,  an  open-air  party. 

After  we  had  thus  got  a  little  ready  for  possible 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  27 

fatigue,  we  three  went  round  to  the  gymnasium.  This 
is  a  handsome  building,  which  one  of  the  young  men 
built,  a  few  years  ago,  just  after  he  graduated,  and 
gave  to  the  college. 

When  we  came  there  the  band  was  playing  and 
people  were  already  waltzing.  But  seated  all  around 
Were  nice-looking  people,  old  and  young,  eating  ice 
creams  and  salads  and  other  such  things.  And  this, 
by  the  way,  was  going  on  at  sixty  or  eighty  places  in 
different  parts  of  Cambridge  through  the  day,  only 
you  will  understand  that  this  meeting  at  the  gymna 
sium  was  one  of  the  largest  of  these. 

Of  course,  if  anybody  felt  an  entire  stranger  on  go 
ing,  I  did.  But  it  is  a  free-and-easy  place.  I  should 
think  all  the  Cambridge  ladies  felt  themselves  rather 
bound  to  be  hostesses  there  ;  indeed  I  do  not  know 
but  what  some  of  them  were  asked  to  be  so  by  the 
gentlemen  who  gave  out  the  invitations.  Anyway, 
Carruthers  and  his  friend  introduced  me  to  one  or  two 
nice  girls.  Carruthers's  sister  was  one,  a  Miss  Osborne 
was  one,  and  a  Miss  Sanborn  or  Sanford  was  one ;  and 
I  waltzed,  —  I  dare  not  say  as  well  as  the  best  of  them, 
but  still  I  hope  I  did  not  disgrace  Miss  Lightfoot's 
teaching.  I  recollected  the  old  rule  that,  whatever 
else  was  certain,  it  was  absolutely  certain  that  nobody 
was  looking  at  me,  and  so  I  did  not  find  myself  fright 
ened  even  in  the  midst  of  the  grandees  of  the  land. 
Carruthers  pointed  out  some  people  whom  I  was  glad 
to  see.  Howells  was  there,  and  his  daughter  was 
there,  who  wrote  that  nice  little  story  in  the  Bazar 
that  I  sent  you.  A  good  many  of  the  college  profes 
sors  were  there.  I  saw  Mr.  McKenzie,  whose  son,  by 
the  way,  was  the  chorister  of  the  day.  In  short,  it 
was  really  a  very  prett}r  party. 

But  it  will  never  do  for  me  to  undertake  to  tell  you 
of  all  the  pretty  girls  I  saw,  nor  how  their  hats  were 


28  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

trimmed.  You  must  look  in  the  Bazar  or  in  Madame 
Demorest,  and  guess  it  out  as  well  as  you  can.  Their 
descriptions  in  general  will  be  much  better  than  mine 
in  particular.  I  went  back  from  here  for  a  little  rest 
and  to  one  or  two  smaller  spreads,  which  Carruthers 
or  his  friend,  or  some  of  his  friends  invited  me  to. 
And  at  half -past  four,  by  great  good  luck,  I  found  my 
self  the  possessor  of  a  ticket  to  see  the  dancing  around 
the  tree.  This  is  what  you  and  I  have  heard  of,  and 
it  is  a  very  amusing  business.  It  used  to  be  a  simple 
frolic  of  a  lot  of  seniors,  holding  hand  in  hand  and 
dancing  around  what  was  called  Liberty  Tree,  I  think. 
But  year  by  year  it  has  grown  more  and  more  of  a 
ceremony,  so  that  now  a  great  theatre,  you  might  call 
it,  is  built  up  around  the  tree,  as  if  it  were  a  circus, 
and  all  this  is  fenced  in  and  kept  by  policemen  that 
nobody  may  get  in  who  has  no  right  there  ;  and  as  I 
say,  tickets  are  given  for  the  seats,  so  that  you  know 
in  advance  about  where  you  will  sit,  and  are  sure  of  a 
place. 

Please  observe  that  all  day  it  had  been  cloudy,  and 
everybody  had  said,  "  What  a  pity  !  "  and  there  was 
great  terror  lest  it  should  rain  in  the  afternoon,  be 
cause  the  newspapers  had  said  "  Showers."  In  point 
of  fact,  it  did  not  rain,  but  a  stiff,  sharp  east  fog  came 
in,  with  threat  of  rain  all  the  time".  In  view  of  this, 
awnings  had  been  stretched  above  the  seats,  and  nobody 
would  have  got  wet  if  it  had  rained. 

The  senior  class,  meanwhile,  have  retired  to  places 
known  to  them,  have  taken  off  their  dress-coats  and 
hats  of  which  I  told  you,  and  have  come  in  in  the 
most  absurd  costumes  you  can  conceive.  They  are 
dressed  ostentatiously  for  frolic,  some  in  real  athletic 
dresses,  some  in  absurd  dresses,  —  the  great  object,  as 
you  will  see,  being  to  be  ready  to  climb  the  tree-trunk 
for  the  flowers  which  are  nailed,  oh,  ever  so  high. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  29 

They  marched  round  and  sat  down,  and  the  other 
classes  stood  around  them  in  a  fixed  order.  They  sang 
and  they  cheered  the  different  officers  of  the  college 
whom  they  like.  They  cheer  the  different  classes,  and 
so  on,  till,  at  a  given  signal,  there  is  a  regular  dance 
in  circles  around  the  tree,  and  then  a  rush  made  at  the 
tree,  to  secure  as  trophies  the  bunches  of  flowers  which 
have  been  put  in  a  ring  high  up,  as  I  say,  above  the 
heads  of  everybody. 

Now  this  Liberty  Tree,  if  that  is  its  name,  is  a  large 
elm,  more  than  a  hundred  years  old ;  and  you  know- 
one  does  not  climb  a  tree  like  that  by  putting  his  arms 
around  it,  and  "  shinning  "  up,  as  we  used  to  say.  The 
only  ladders,  however,  are  ladders  of  living  men ;  so 
that  you  see  a  group  of  fellows  advance,  close-shoul 
dered,  to  the  tree ;  you  see  two  other  fellows,  lighter 
than  they,  run  up  on  them  and  stand  on  their  shoul 
ders,  and  a  third,  the  lightest  of  all,  run  up  on  them 
just  as  you  have  seen  clowns  do  at  a  circus,  and  if  he 
gets  up  he  is  able  to  handle  the  flowers.  But  mean 
while  another  group  is  hauling  away  upon  the  six 
lower  fellows  in  this  pyramid,  and  trying  to  pull 
them  from  their  station,  so  that  the  climber  shall  be 
disconcerted  as  he  gets  up;  and  you  can  imagine 
what  fun  takes  place.  It  is  for  this  contest  that 
they  are  dressed  as  they  are.  In  some  cases  it  did 
not  make  much  difference  how  they  were  dressed, 
for  they  came  out  as  naked  above  the  waist  as  the 
day  they  were  born.  But  in  our  recent  enthusiasm 
for  athletics  we  do  not  care  a '  great  deal  about  that. 
And  the  people  who  could  see  a  boat's  crew  strip 
to  the  waist  when  the  seniors  row  against  the  jun 
iors  need  not  be  distressed  if  they  happen  to  see  a 
man's  shirt  ripped  open  so  that  the  color  of  his 
skin  is  visible.  Of  course  there  was  great  cheering, 
laughing,  waving  of  handkerchiefs,  and  the  rest ;  and 


30  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

after  all  this,  the  last  flower  is  pulled  down.  Every- 
body  has  some  of  the  flowers;  everybody  presents 
them  to  the  particular  lady  who  has  witnessed  hit 
struggles  with  most  interest  from  the  tournament 
seats,  and  they  give  something  to  talk  about  in  the 
evening's  dancing. 

I  have  written  all  this  at  length,  because  I  told 
the  girls  that  they  should  hear  all  about  Class  Day 
from  me  and  should  know  what  to  wear  [if  they  come 
down  next  year.  It  is  a  first-rate  frolic,  and  I  know 
they  will  like  to  come. 

But  now  I  must  tell  you  about  to-day.  You  must 
not  think  Sundays  are  dissipated,  but  I  will  own  they 
are  very  different  from  any  Sundays  I  have  known 
about  before.  Our  minister,  Mr.  Haynes,  preached 
about  tenement-houses,  and  I  wish  you  could  have 
heard  the  sermon.  I  have  not  seen  much  of  them 
here,  but  I  can  understand  what  I  read  in  your  "  Lend 
a  Hand  "  last  summer,  that  there  is  no  solution  of  the 
tenement-house  problem ;  that  the  only  solution  is  to 
be  done  with  them  and  not  to  have  any  more  of  them. 
I  thought  so  all  the  more  after  I  had  heard  Mr.  Haynes. 
I  really  want  you  to  spend  Sunday  with  me  some  time, 
after  we  get  established,  —  Mrs.  Metcalf  wUl  have  a 
room  for  you  any  day.  I  want  you  to  come,  if  it  is 
only  to  hear  him,  and  the  first-rate  singing  that  we 
have  at  our  church.  But  I  will  tell  you  more  about 
that  another  time. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  down  with  Carruthers  to 
see  and  hear  the  Salvation  Army.  Ever  since  we 
read  Booth's  book,  it  has  seemed  to  me  absurd  to 
have  such  people  right  under  our  lee,  as  the  sailors 
say,  and  to  know  nothing  about  them.  I  knew  there 
were  "  posts,"  as  they  say,  here.  You  see  the  signs 
and  flags  on  different  buildings,  and  last  Sunday  I 
fell  afoul  of  one  of  their  speakers  on  the  Common. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  31 

Carruthers  said  we  should  have  to  pay  to  go  in,  and 
I  had  my  ten  cents  ready  ;  but  it  was  no  such  thing, 
though  he  says  he  has  paid  before.  It  was  at  the  top 
of  a  big  building  in  Washington  Street,  over  a  mar 
ket  ;  I  saw  the  sign  Friday,  and  I  made  Carruthers 
go  there  to-day. 

He  had  made  fun  about  paying  to  go  in ;  but  I  told 
him  I  liked  that  way,  —  to  pay  as  you  go.  Anyway, 
I  know  that  these  people  are  poor  people,  and  that 
there  would  be  no  thousand-dollar  boxes  or  pews. 
Do  you  not  remember  what  that  New  York  man  told 
us,  —  that  his  box  at  church  cost  him  more  'than  his 
pew  at  the  opera  ?  but  here  there  was  neither  pew 
nor  contribution. 

It  was  a  great  square  hall,  not  high,  but  high 
enough,  with  windows  on  two  sides.  The  front  was 
partitioned  off,  and  it  turned  out  afterward  that  the 
officers  and  their  wives  and  children  lived  there.  I 
liked  that ;  it  seemed  business-like,  and  as  if  they  were 
not  ashamed  of  their  business.  Across  the  hall  were 
lines  of  wooden  chairs,  and  the  whole  front  was  taken 
up  by  a  long  platform,  as  if  there  was  to  be  an  exhi 
bition  at  an  academy.  This  was  divided  like  any 
other  stage  from  our  part.  There  were  two  or  three 
flags,  long  pennons  of  red,  white,  and  blue,  and  blue 
and  white  stars,  and  an  archway  with  the  motto, 
"  Holiness  to  the  Lord."  On  this  platform  were  the 
officers  and  people  with  horns  and  other  military 
instruments.  They  were  in  some  sort  of  simple  uni 
form,  —  that  is,  the  men  were ;  the  women,  I  think, 
had  only  flat  poke  bonnets  on.  On  one  side  there 
was  a  man  with  a  big  drum. 

Now  I  have  told  you  all  the  things  that  made  it 
different  from  any  common  conference  meeting,  un 
less  perhaps  it  was  the  looks  of  the  people.  The  hall 
was  one-third  full,  perhaps.  There  were  a  few  chil- 


32  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

dren,  and  they  seemed  to  be  amused  and  interested 
as  they  would  not  be  at  a  common  meeting.  They 
talked  a  little,  —  not  much,  —  and  nobody  minded. 
People  came  in,  just  as  we  did,  and  went  out,  just  as 
they  chose,  without  inquiring  about  times  and  sea 
sons.  The  speaking  and  singing  went  on  all  the  time, 
quiet  and  loud,  good  and  bad,  much  as  it  is  in  all 
meetings.  The  captain's  wife  read  from  one  of  the 
epistles,  and  started  two  or  three  hymns,  which  all 
the  people  joined  in  singing.  Think  of  the  simplicity 
of  a  service  where  some  one  says,  "  Here  are  a  few 
more  copies  of  'The  War-Cry.'  Does  no  one  want 
them?"  Then  a  "lady-captain"  takes  them  down, 
and  sells  them  at  five  cents  each,  and  then  all  sing 
the  hymn  which  is  in  the  paper,  say  on  page  four. 

Dear  mother,  you  would  not  have  been  shocked  in 
the  least  by  the  ways  of  these  nice  people.  I  think 
you  would  have  liked  it,  as  I  certainly  did.  As  for 
drums  and  cornets,  I  do  not  know  why  they  are  not 
as  much  like  harps  and  psalteries  as  are  the  trumpet- 
stops  of  organs.  I  believe  the  bit  of  ritual  I  liked 
best  was  a  hole  in  the  elbow  of  the  shirt-sleeve  of  one 
of  the  [speakers.  People  will  not  think  a  church  too 
toney  where  the  robes  of  ceremony  have  holes  in  the 
elbows. 

Carruthers  went  off  when  we  came  out,  and  I  went 
up  on  the  Common  alone.  It  is  an  old  story  to  him, 
but  it  never  tires  me  ;  and  in  a  fortnight  that  I  have 
been  here,  I  have  not  yet  seen  a  Boston  man  who  had 
seen  it.  I  mean  the  crowd  for  the  music,  Sunday 
afternoon.  The  sky  was  overcast,  so  there  was  no 
hot  sun.  The  trees  are  just  perfect,  and  the  grass. 
And  here  were  —  well  forty  thousand  people  is  a 
small  guess  —  walking  about,  lying  on  the  grass,  or 
standing  tight  crowded  near  the  music-stand.  On 
the  stand  a  band,  and  a  good  band,  playing,  and  play- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  33 

ing  well.  That  is  another  good  piece  of  "  Twentieth 
Century,"  is  n't  it  ? 

One  of  the  first  things  I  noticed  was  a  little  shaver 
with  a  board  on  a  stick  as  high  as  he  was.  He  had 
pulled  it  out  of  the  ground,  and  was  trying  to  set 
it  up  again  in  another  place.  I  looked  on  the  side 
of  it  to  see  what  he  had  got,  and  read  "  Keep  off  the 
grass."  He  had  taken  the  policing  of  the  grass 
wholly  into  his  own  hands. 

In  fact,  this  "  Keep  off  the  grass  "  is  only  for  week 
days.  Sundays  we  do  as  we  choose.  It  is  just  as 
you  and  the  boys  might  go  down  in  the  afternoon  and 
sit  or  lie  under  the  maples  in  the  cow  pasture.  And 
so,  as  I  say,  some  people  were  lying,  some  walking, 
some  playing,  and  some  standing  still.  The  music 
was  the  central  attraction ;  but  there  were  lots  of 
people  who  had  no  care  for  that,  and  were  only  mak 
ing  the  best  of  the  open  air. 

It  is  very  queer  to  find  yourself  among  so  many 
people,  and  not  to  see  one  you  ever  saw  before.  I 
was  really  glad  to  meet  the  man  who  runs  the  ele 
vator  at  our  new  office.  He  remembered  me,  as  his 
business  required ;  for  elevator  men  are  like  kings 
and  hotel-keepers  in  that  business.  Like  them,  too, 
I  believe  they  often  remember  wrong.  And  you  can 
understand  that  I  was  really  glad  as  I  walked  by 
the  Frog  Pond,  throwing  bits  of  bark  and  chips 
to  a  dog  who  was  swimming,  to  find  our  dear  old 
Miss  Tryphena  Dexter  sitting  011  one  of  the  benches. 
I  asked  if  I  might  sit  by  her  a  little,  and  she  readily 
assented,  drawing  up  the  folds  of  her  nice  Sunday 
black  silk,  that  I  might  have  my  fair  share  of  the 
seat. 

No,  she  said,  she  was  not  listening  to  the  music. 
That  was  for  them  Germans  and  other  foreigners,  and 
was  a  part  of  their  method  of  taking  away  our  free- 


34  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

dom  and  overthrowing  our  institutions.  And  why 
people  permitted  it,  and  why  they  did  not  send  them 
all  back  to  England  where  they  came  from,  she  did 
not  know.  There  was  a  time  once,  she  said,  when 
King  George's  men  were  sent  back  faster  than  they 
came;  and  here  she  nodded  with  approval  at  the 
column  on  the  hill  which  celebrates  the  heroes  of 
the  Civil  War. 

But  I  found  afterward  that  this  was  no  blunder 
of  hers.  To  her  the  hill  still  represents  the  English 
fort  which  was  there  in  her  girlhood.  In  fact,  she 
told  me  that  she  had  danced  round  the  Wishing 
Stone  backward  in  earlier  times,  and  that  "they" 
had  afterward  blasted  it  to  make  the  stone  curb 
around  the  pond. 

"  They  "  is  a  sort  of  evil  spirit  who  represents  all 
the  powers  of  darkness,  and  is  therefore  spoken  of  in 
the  plural  number  by  Miss  Tryphena.  "  They  "  have 
changed  the  line  of  the  horse-cars,  or  "  They  "  sung 
the  hymn  to  the  wrong  tune,  or  "  They "  brought 
milk  that  was  sour.  I  could  see  that  she  disapproved 
of  my  throwing  chips  to  the  little  dog  ;  so  I  desisted. 
But  she  was,  on  the  other  hand,  pleased  when  I  gave 
him  a  cracker.  "  I  tell  them,"  she  said,  "  that  we 
don't  know  what  we  should  do  if  we  had  four  legs. 
Mebbe  we  might  bark  and  bite  too.  There 's  no  say 
ing  what  nature  will  do  when  we  are  not  converted." 
And  she  explained  to  me  that  we  might  feed  the  most 
benighted  on  the  Sabbath,  even  though  they  had 
many  legs.  But  chips,  which  tempted  them  to  do 
their  labor  and  work  on  the  Sabbath,  seemed  to  her 
doubtful.  "  Anyway,  my  child,"  she  said,  "  it  is  well 
to  shun  the  very  appearance  of  evil." 

She  had  made  it  her  habit  to  sit  half  an  hour  on 
the  Common,  by  the  Frog  Pond  or  not,  as  the  seats 
might  offer,  ever  since  there  were  seats.  A  cele- 


NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  35 

brated  English  preacher,  quite  the  Parker  or  Farrar 
of  his  day,  had  preached  for  Dr.  Sharp,  on  the  text, 
"  Consider  the  lilies."  And  Miss  Tryphena  had  been 
struck  to  the  heart,  she  said,  that  she  did  not  consider 
them  enough.  So.  as  she  walked  home  that  after 
noon,  —  this  was  all  centuries  "ago,  —  she  had  sat 
down  to  consider  them.  "  My  dear,  there  was  n't  any 
lilies.  There  never  was  a  lily  on  the  Common,  unless 
one  of  them  lazy  messenger  boys  dropped  one  when 
he  was  carrying  of  it  to  some  wedding,  and  he  was 
sitting  and  reading  a  novel,  and  some  of  them  Hun 
garian,  children  ketched  his  blue  box  and  run.  But 
the  Scripture  is  not  to  be  literally  read.  Dr.  Sharp 
taught  me  that,  long  before  this  Dr.  Primrose 
preached  about  them.  And  so  I  sat  and  considered 
the  dandelions  and  the  buttercups  and  the  red  and 
white  clover.  There  was  always  plenty  of  them  be 
fore  they  got  the  mowers  going,  —  what  you  call 
lawn-cutters.  Now  these  children  don't  consider 
either  of  them,  because  they  don't  know  'em ;  and 
they  would  not  consider  them  either,  if  they  did. 

"  But  I  got  in  the  way  of  it  then,  and  I  never  shall 
give  it  up  when  it 's  as  pleasant  as  to-day,  —  not  if 
twenty  million  of  them  Bohemians  and  Moabites,  as 
I  call  'em,  invaded  the  Common  with  their  trumpets 
and  their  shawms.  Only  if  there  was  any  such  thing 
as  law,  as  there  was  when  we  had  Governor  Lincoln 
and  his  body-guard,  they  would  all  go  back  where 
they  came  from  in  double-quick  time." 

I  tried  to  get  her  on  some  personal  reminiscences  of 
Governor  Lincoln  and  his  body-guard.  But  they  were 
vague,  and  consisted  mostly  of  accounts  of  different 
"elections"  when  she  had  bought  candy  here,  and 
looked  in  at  a  sort  of  camera  obscura  in  the  shape  of 
a  temple  of  a  certain  nereid  in  which  she  pointed  a 
quill  pen  at  Lafayette.  She  had  seen  some  Indians 


36  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

dance  here  —  or  said  she  had.  I  thought  her  mind 
was  wandering.  But  no.  They  were  Western  Indians 
—  one  was  named  Black-Hawk  —  who  were  brought 
here  after  some  triumph  of  our  gallant  army.  Then 
she  told  of  the  first  rush  of  water  up  the  fountain, 
the  day  when  the  water  was  introduced  into  Boston. 
She  was  fairly  poetical  as  she  described  the  rush  of 
the  great  column. 

"  Oh,  then  they  let  it  play,"  she  said,  "  high,  high, 
high,  high  above  the  trees.  And  it  can  play  so.  And 
it  will  when  them  foreigners  has  gone  back  to  their 
temples  and  cathedrals  and  mud  cabins  and  pigs 
again.  But,  my  dear,  it  is  time  for  me  to  get  supper. 
I  only  give  one  hour  for  consideration." 

But  I  would  not  let  her  bid  me  good-bye.  I  gave 
her  my  arm,  and  by  such  routes  as  she  approved, 
I  led  her  down  the  hill.  On  the  way,  we  passed  a 
group  who  were  listening  to  somebody  expounding 
the  Bible.  Here  she  stopped  for  a  moment,  enough 
to  satisfy  herself  that  the  doctrine  was  correct. 

"I  was  afraid,"  she  said,  "that  some  of  them 
Sabellians  or  Sub-Lapsarians  has  got  in  here.  But 
this  man  is  all  right.  I  have  heard  him  before.  You 
know  how  they  tried  to  take  from  us  the  sacred 
privilege  of  hearing  the  Word  on  the  Common. 
Why,  even  Mr.  Whitfield  could  preach  on  the  Com 
mon,  when  he  coiild  not  preach  in  the  churches. 
But  their  triumph  was  not  long.  Our  dear  Mr. 
Davis,  he  was  haled  before  magistrates  and  kings, 
and  he  was  true  to  the  last.  He  went  to  prison,  and 
he  sung  hymns  there,  and  the  prisoners  heard  him, 
and  since  then  the  word  has  been  proclaimed  here 
and  with  power." 

We  saw  another  group  to  which  she  led.  But  I 
knew  that  the  speaker  was  laying  down  some  rather 
advanced  doctrines  on  the  circulating  medium,  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  37 

silver  and  paper  question,  and  I  advised  her  to  keep 
on  the  long  path.  We  came  out  safely  to  the  street, 
and  fortunately  the  "  spinner,"  or  electric  car,  she 
needed,  appeared.  It  was  badly  crowded ;  but  I  saw 
one  seat  for  her,  and  she  mounted.  For  myself  I  ran 
forward  to  stand  on  the  platform.  The  man  started, 
I  believe,  at  the  same  moment.  Anyway,  something 
seemed  to  wrench  my  arm  and  something  must  have 
hit  my  head.  I  fell  on  the  ground.  I  recollect  think 
ing  that  the  wheel  would  pass  over  me.  And  then  I 
remember  nothing  more. 

[NOTE  BY  THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  Coir MONWEALTH.  —  This  young 
man  does  not  seem  to  understand  the  demands  made  on  a  weekly 
journal  which  is  the  organ  of  116  literary  and  scientific  Societies. 
He  has  been  tempted  to  exceed  the  limit  of  space  which  we  allow 
him.  For  our  part,  we  protect  our  readers  by  making  him  stop 
where  he  should  have  stopped.] 


38  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  FOURTH. 

VI. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  June  26,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  am.  still  having  such  hurried 
days  in  this  busy  Boston  that  I  hardly  know  how  I 
can  ever  finish  a  letter  to  you ;  but  as  I  have  a  few 
quiet  moments,  I  will  begin  a  letter  "between  the 
drops,"  as  it  were,  although  I  have  not  yet  heard 
of  your  receiving  my  last  letter.  I  had  supposed 
that  this  was  to  be  a  quiet  week,  for  "  my  family," 
as  I  call  them,  went  away  Tuesday,  and  I  supposed  I 
should  enter  upon  that  "solitude,"  that  Cousin  Rupert 
has  promised  me  in  my  summer  in  Boston. 

For  a  summer  in  Boston  it  is  to  be.  Everybody 
has  consented,  and  I  am  quite  happy.  My  own  plans 
are  not  exactly  to  be  carried  out,  it  is  true,  for  I  have 
ventured  to  have  plans  of  my  own  for  the  first  time 
in  my  life,  and  some  of  them  are  to  be  allowed.  For 
instance,  I  am  going  to  begin  on  some  "  work,"  actu 
ally,  such  as  we  used  to  talk  about  that  last  summer, 
in  our  dreams  of  idleness  on  the  "  mountain  side  "  in 
dear  Vermont.  I  am  afraid  you  will  think  it  sounds 
like  an  idle  kind  of  work,  from  its  name,  for  I  am 
really  going  to  "try "and  teach  in  one  of  the  Vaca 
tion  Schools  for  the  Boston  children.  I  want  to 
begin  on  something,  and  I  do  want  to  earn  a  little 
bit  of  money.  And  Anna  Davis  has  told  me  about 
these  schools,  how  they  have  been  going  on  for 
some  years. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  39 

She  says  she  was  here  one  of  the  very  first  sum 
mers,  when  the  whole  thing  was  to  be  tried  for  an 
experiment,  and  they  did  not  know  how  many  tables 
would  be  needed,  or  how  many  rooms,  for  nobody 
knew  how  many  scholars  there  would  be.  Of  course, 
there  were  a  great  many  sceptical  people  who  laughed 
at  the  idea  of  any  children  coming  to  school  volun- 
tarity.  "Of  course,  they  would  stay  away,  if  they 
were  not  obliged  to  go  to  school,  and  in  summer  too, 
when  they  might  be  playing  out  of  doors  and  having 
a  good  time."  These  wise  people  did  not  realize  how 
many  children  there  are  in  Boston  who  have  only  the 
street  sidewalks  for  "  out-of-doors  "  to  play  in,  and  oh, 
such  narrow  streets,  if  you  could  but  see  them.  So 
Anna  tells  me  that  the  very  first  summer  that  the 
Vacation  Schools  were  opened  at  the  South  End,  she 
went  to  the  school  building  granted  for  their  use  for 
the  summer  months,  and  she  had  many  misgivings, 
expecting  to  find  only  a  group  of  teachers  and  com 
mittees  on  the  school-steps ;  but  as  she  approached, 
she  found  a  crowd  before  the  doors,  and  there  were 
three  hundred  children  waiting  admittance.  Well,  you 
have  heard  how  successful  they  have  been  since,  and 
how  many  interesting  things  are  taught  there,  all 
kinds  of  occupations,  and  children  are  very  ready  to 
learn  that  "  to  do  something "  is  as  good  fun  as  any 
kind  of  play.  — 

Anna  Davis  came  in  to  interrupt  my  letter ;  but  we 
went  on  in  our  talk  with  a  little  of  the  same  subject. 
She  was  amused  at  seeing  on  my  table  an  old  copy  of 
"  Harry  and  Lucy  "  that  I  found  in  the  library  here. 
I  always  have  suspected  that  my  mother  named  me 
after  this  celebrated  old-fashioned  "  Lucy "  of  Miss 
Edgeworth.  So  I  have  been  again  looking  up  her 
history,  and  have  been  wondering  if  my  character 
had  been  formed  on  the  "  Harry  and  Lucy "  plan, 


40  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

and  spite  of  much  that  Anna  and  I  find  to  laugh 
at  in  this  very  instructive  work,  that  the  children  of 
the  present  day  would  turn  up  their  noses  at  —  in 
spite  of  this  —  our  mothers  and  fathers  dfd  well  to 
teach  us  to  love  to  be  occupied  with  "  something." 

Listen  to  this  description  of  the  father  and  mother  : 
they  "  took  care  that  Harry  and  Lucy  should  neither 
be  made  to  dislike  knowledge  by  having  tiresome,  long 
talks,  nor  rendered  idle  and  unable  to  command  their 
attention,  by  having  too  much  amusement.  Spoiled 
children  are  never  happy.  Between  breakfast  and  din 
ner  they  ask  a  hundred  times,  l  What  o'clock  is  it  ?  ' 
Or  they  must  have  somebody  to  amuse  them,  or  some 
new  toys,"  etc.  Harry  and  Lucy  were  not  like  these. 
t(  They  loved  reading,  found  continually  a  number  of 
employments  and  of  objects  which  entertained  and 
interested  them.  ...  If  any  extraordinary  amusement 
was  given  to  them,  such,  for  instance,  as  their  seeing 
an  elephant,  they  enjoyed  it  as  much  as  possible  ;  but 
in  general  Harry  and  Lucy  felt  that  they  wanted  noth 
ing  beyond  their  common,  everyday  occupations.  Be 
sides  these,  there  was  always  something  going  on  in 
the  house,"  etc. 

This  is  so  much  a  picture  of  the  way  in  which  I  was 
brought  up  that  I  do  hope  you  will  forgive  my  send 
ing  it  to  you ;  but  you  don't  know  how  much  I  have 
spared  you  and  left  out.  And  if  my  letter  takes  an 
instructive  strain,  you  must  remember  I  am  in  Bos 
ton,  and  it  is  Commencement  week.  When  you  hear 
the  list  of  all  the  places  I  have  been  to,  you  will  only 
wonder  that  I  have  not  put  more  orations  and  disqui 
sitions  into  my  letter.  Twice  to  Cambridge  since 
Class  Day  !  Yes,  indeed ;  for  Aunt  Martha  took  me 
Monday  afternoon  to  the  lovely  Harvard  Annex  Day. 
So  tempting  and  lovely  the  beautiful  house  stands, 
like  a  real  family  home,  only  so  largely  hospitable  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  41 

so  many  "  daughters."  As  I  sat  in  my  little  corner, 
with  my  ice  cream  and  cake,  near  the  end  of  it  all,  I 
could  look  out  on  such  famous  people.  Maria  could 
tell  me  all  their  names,  and  I  can  now  put  their 
faces  along  with  their  names,  in  my  memory  and  my 
gratitude. 

But  I  must  not  stop  over  this,  for  we  hurried  away, 
and  I  came  into  town  to  go  with  Anna  Davis  to  the 
banquet  at  the  New  England  Conservatory  of  Music. 
Don't  you  think  I  am  fortunate  ?  —  for  she  seems  to 
know  everybody  that  Aunt  Martha  and  "  the  family  " 
here  do  not  know.  And  I  met  at  this  "  reunion  "  so 
many  unexpected  friends,  and  have  made  so  many 
plans  for  the  next  few  weeks. 

But  to  go  on  with  my  journal.  Tuesday  was  terribly 
crowded,  "  the  family  "  going  off  in  the  morning,  and 
perhaps  I  may  as  well  tell  you  now  what  is  going  to 
happen  to  me.  It  is  the  result  of  a  deep-laid  plot  of 
Aunt  Martha's.  She  has  insisted  upon  my  staying  on, 
in  this  large  deserted  house,  which  they  leave  this 
week  for  a  summer  at  Bar  Harbor.  The  house  is  not 
utterly  deserted,  for  a  delightful  old  housekeeper 
stays  all  summer,  with  her  son,  whose  principal  busi 
ness  will  be  to  keep  off  the  burglars.  She  will  give 
me  my  breakfast  and  late  dinner,  and  I  may  get 
my  luncheon  elsewhere,  or  at  home  if  I  prefer.  It  all 
seems  quite  too  magnificent  an  arrangement  for  me, 
but  Aunt  Martha  says  that  "  Hetty  "  (her  real  name  is 
Mehitable)  will  anyhow  provide  for  herself  and  her 
family,  —  she  is  to  have  a  dressmaker  daughter  stay 
with  her,  —  and  she  may  as  well  provide  for  me  too. 
So  I  am  to  keep  the  dear  little  bedroom  I  have  been 
occupying  here,  while  much  of  the  rest  of  the  house  is 
to  be  shut  up.  Only,  for  my  very,  very  own,  I  am  to 
have  the  little  room  off  the  library,  where  I  can  study 
and  scribble  as  much  as  I  please,  as  I  am  doing  now, 


42  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

and  which  makes  it  so  tempting  to  linger  along  over 
these  letters  to  you.  And  I  can  go  into  the  library  as 
much  as  I  please.  My  hours  at  the  Vacation  School 
will  be  in  the  morning,  so  imagine  my  afternoons  here. 
Only  I  do  not  yet  begin  on  those'  quiet  afternoons. 
Cousin  Eupert  and  his  father  stayed  on  for  Commence 
ment,  so  that  is  how  I  happened  to  go  to  Cambridge 
that  day  —  only  there  is  more  to  tell  first. 

I  do  not  get  a  letter  from  you,  and  I  am  very  sure 
that  your  first  letter  in  answer  to  mine  will  be  full  of 
questions  and  wo^ideriiigs  about  "  Cousin "  Rupert, 
and  with  justice,  since  he  is  not  really  my  cousin.  So 
let  me  calm  your  anticipated  fears.  I  think  I  can 
venture  to  tell  you  something  —  since  you  are  so  far 
away,  and  it  will  not  be  likely  to  get  into  the  news 
papers,  which,  by  the  way,  I  never  find  time  to  read 
here  —  something  I  will  confide  to  you,  though  it  is  a 
profound  secret.  It  was  quite  early  in  the  business, 
I  think  the  very  night  I  arrived,  that  "  Cousin  "  Ru 
pert  told  me  that  he  is  engaged  to  a  young  lady  "  out 
West,"  but  that  it  was  all  kept  secret  for  the  present 
(I  believe  his  mother  knows  about  it) ;  and  I  did  n't 
quite  understand  the  reason  for  its  being  secret,  but  I 
think  the  young  lady  wishes  it ;  so  if  you  meet  her 
anywhere  "  out  West  "  don't  you  mention  it  to  her !  I 
only  speak  of  it  to  you,  lest  you  should  think  "  Cousin  " 
Rupert  too  devoted  to  me.  But  in  all  these  expeditions, 
the  family  have  gone  round  with  me,  only  he  has  been 
the  one  to  explain  things. 

It  was  his  father,  however,  who  took  me  about  Com 
mencement  Day,  and  I  really  saw  Cambridge  for  the 
first  time,  because  it  was  such  a  brilliant,  glorious  day, 
and  Class  Day  there  was  such  a  deplorable  ram  in  the 
evening.  If  you  could  have  seen  my  white  muslin 
skirt  after  it  was  all  through  —  through  Avith  that,  I 
fear.  But  mine  was  no  worse  than  anybody's  else  ;  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  43 

during  the  dancing  time  our  dresses  were  really  very 
respectable.  I  have  cut  you  off  short  in  my  descrip 
tion  of  that  wonderful  Monday,  but  I  shall  return  to 
it  when  those  leisure  days  come  in  which  I  am  to  have 
plenty  of  time  to  write. 

This  goes  in  "  scrabbles  "  between  many  goings  and 
comings ;  but  I  must  tell  you  how  it  was  not  Cousin 
Rupert,  but  his  father,  who  went  with  me  into  some 
of  the  college  buildings,  and  he  showed  me  the  room 
where  my  father  lived  most  of  his  college  days,  and 
we  met  many  of  his  old  friends,  and  the  whole  place 
is  so  charming,  with  the  old  buildings  and  new  ones, 
and  the  college  green.  It  does  look  fascinating,  and  I 
should  think  they  would  all  wish  it  was  really  the 
"Commencement"  —the  graduating  class,  I  mean. 

But  I  must  tell  you  about  the  day  before.  Aunt 
Martha,  and  Maria,  and  the  rest,  all  off  at  an  early 
hour.  It  was  a  dreadful  piece  of  business  for  them, 
as  they  usually  breakfast  so  late,  and  Maria  did  not 
look  half  awake  as  I  bade  her  good-by.  Meanwhile, 
I  had  written  a  letter  home,  and  after  they  left  I  set 
off  by  myself,  and  it  did  seem  pleasant  to  be  doing 
what  I  liked  all  by  myself,  which  was  to  go  to  see  the 
Normal  Art  School  exhibition,  not  far  from  us  here, 
in  a  hall  in  one  of  the  school  buildings.  And  here  I 
met  Anna  Davis,  and  she  introduced  to  me  some  of  her 
teacher  friends,  and  we  went  all  round  the  building  to 
see  the  different  rooms,  besides  the  exhibition  itself, 
which  was  very  interesting.  It  made  me  a  little  envi 
ous  of  other  girls'  advantages,  as  I  wished  I  might 
have  had  just  such  a  training.  Then  with  one  or  two 
friends  we  went  down  town  to  lunch,  interspersing 
first  a  visit  to  the  Flower  and  Fruit  Show  at  Horticul 
tural  Hall.  Oh,  the  exquisite  roses  !  I  never  saw  any 
thing  like  them  before,  —  great,  full-blown  white  and 
red  roses,  so  gorgeous  !  We  had  to  run  away  from  the 


44  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

strawberries ;  they  were  too  tempting,  and  reminded  us 
of  luncheon.  I  sat  thinking  of  all  those  glorious 
flowers,  and  then  of  our  beautiful  mountain  laurel  all 
in  blossom  at  home,  and  then  of  the  children  here  in 
town,  not  seeing  any  of  it,  and  going  to  school  because 
the  school-rooms  were  the  airiest  places  they  could  go 
to ;  and  I  could  not  help  speaking  about  it,  when  one 
of  Anna's  friends  exclaimed :  "  But,  oh,  you  must  go 
down  with  us,  this  very  afternoon  to  the  Flower  Mis 
sion  at  the  North  End,  and  you  will  see  that  the 
children  in  Boston  not  only  see,  but  give  away 
flowers." 

So  then  she  went  on  to  tell  us  how  there  was  to  be 
a  meeting  of  this  mission  at  one  of  the  school  build 
ings  that  afternoon,  and  we  all  went  to  it,  and  heard 
the  report  of  all  their  work.  They  call  it  the  Chil 
dren's  Flower  Work  Mission,  for  it  is  the  children 
who  carry  it  on.  There  are  fifty  girls  from  the  North 
End  schools  who  distribute  the  flowers  in  bands  of 
ten;  these  they  call  "the  Advance  Guard."  Then 
there  are  fifty  friends  in  the  towns  along  the  Boston 
and  Lowell  railroad,  who  are  called  "  the  Relief 
Guard."  I  wish  you  could  have  heard  the  account  of 
all  the  work  they  have  done.  They  carry  bunches  of 
flowers  to  old  people  and  sick  people,  and  to  the  public 
institutions  and  the  Copp's  Hill  burial-ground,  and 
6,052  bunches  of  flowers  were  distributed  last  year. 
Now,  please  multiply  the  pleasure  that  these  six  thou 
sand  gave  to  those  who  received  them  in  their  stifling 
rooms,  by  the  pleasure  of  the  six  thousand  girls  who 
carried  them  about,  and  it  will  give  you  some  idea  of 
what  these  missions  are  doing.  I  am  promised  some 
flowers  to  take  myself  some  day  —  and  here,  let  me 
tell  you  of  a  little  adventure! 

Later.     I  left  off  at  an  adventure,  but  you  may  not 
think  it  so  very  exciting,  and  I  shall  have  to  begin   by 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  45 

a  long  story.  My  mother  left  as  a  parting  injunction, 
that  I  should  hunt  up  an  old  "  retainer  of  the  family  " 
as  I  call  her,  whom  nobody  has  seen  or  heard  from 
these  years  and  years.  But  we  have  only  known  that 
she  lived  somewhere  at  the  North  End,  a  very  worthy 
person,  named  Miss  Dexter,  with  a  very  odd  first  name. 
I  happened  to  think  about  her  as  we  came  away  from 
the  Flower  Mission  the  other  day,  for  we  passed  the 
street  where  she  is  supposed  to  live.  So  a  day  or  two 
ago  I  made  Anna  go  down  in  that  region  again  with 
me,  and  we  found  the  narrow  street  and  passed  into  a 
little  court,  such  as  they  have  in  Boston,  with  crowds 
of  children  on  the  door-steps,  though  it  was  not  one 
of  the  hottest  days  ;  but  you  did  not  wonder  that  they 
wanted  to  be  out  of  their  houses. 

Well,  they  all  of  them  seemed  to  know  where  Miss 
Dexter  lived,  and  a  little  girl  went  along  with  us  to 
show  us  the  house  and  upstairs.  For,  my  dear,  we 
had  to  mount  three  flights  of  stairs,  that  seemed  to 
grow  narrower  and  narrower  the  higher  we  went,  or, 
perhaps,  it  was  because  I  grew  more  and  more  fright 
ened.  At  last  we  reached  the  door,  but  we  found  it 
locked.  The  little  girl  supposed  "  she  "  must  be  out, 
and  as  we  pounded  with  the  ends  of  our  parasols  and 
could  not  make  anybody  answer,  we  came  to  the  same 
conclusion.  The  little  girl  said  Miss  Dexter  was  apt 
to  go  out  in  the  afternoon,  if  it  did  not  rain  and  if  she 
had  not  been  out  in  the  morning,  and  she  declared  she 
was  not  deaf.  I  was  a  little  afraid  she  might  be  in 
a  fit,  and  that  one  ought  to  get  in  somehow  to  see  to 
her,  but  the  little  girl  declared  she  was  not  likely  to 
lock  the  door  in  the  daytime,  if  she  were  in ;  so  we 
reluctantly  turned  away ;  for  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know 
when  I  can  ever  find  my  way  there  again.  But  Anna 
Davis  says  she  is  willing  to  go  again  with  me.  So  I 
stuck  a  great  bunch  of  laurel  into  the  door-handle  and 


46  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

left.  I  did  not  have  any  card  or  pencil  with  me  to 
write  anything,  and  I  don't  suppose  she  would  have 
understood  who  it  was,  if  I  had  left  a  card.  So  we 
came  down  the  dark  stairs  and  into  the  court  again. 

But  here  was  the  adventure.  On  the  very  lower 
stairs,  which  happened  to  be  particularly  dark,  we 
passed  a  young  man  hurrying  by  us.  As  he  made 
room  for  us  to  pass,  a  door  opened  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs,  and  flung  a  little  light  into  the  darkness.  For 
some  reason  I  turned  back,  and  for  some  reason  he 
turned  back  to  look,  and  I  am  almost  sure,  that  he 
was  one  of  my  partners  Class  Day,  at  Cambridge. 
I  could  not  tell  very  well,  for  his  face  was  bandaged 
up,  and  he  really  did  look  different ;  only  I  felt  sure 
he  was  the  same.  One  of  Cousin  Rupert's  friends 
introduced  him  to  me,  —  my  Class  Day  partner,  I 
mean ;  but  I  did  not  understand  his  name,  and  Cousin 
Rupert  declared  afterward  that  he  didn't  know  him, 
and  never  saw  him  nor  heard  of  him,  and  that  Dick 
ought  to  have  asked  his  permission  before  introducing 
a  strange  fellow  to  his  cousin.  But  I  found  the 
"  strange  fellow "  very  agreeable  in  the  little  time 
I  saw  him  and  talked  with  him.  We  discovered  that 
he  was  as  much  of  a  stranger  in  Boston  as  I  am  ;  but 
I  got  the  idea  he  was  going  off  again,  so  I  can't  really 
quite  believe  that  it  was  he.  For  I  felt  so  confused 
after  turning  round  to  stare  at  him  that  I  hurried 
Anna  away  as  fast  as  we  could  go  down,  through  the 
court  into  the  street ;  and  happily  we  could  find  the 
street-car  very  soon. 

Anna  declares  that  my  partner  looked  very 
"  rowdy "  with  his  bandage  on ;  and  she  declares  he 
cannot  be  any  of  Cousin  Rupert's  friends'  friends,  as 
doubtless  he  had  just  come  from  a  street  fight.  But 
anyhow,  he  looked  like  a  gentleman,  even  with  his 
bandage  on ;  and  I  am  pretty  sure  she  really  thinks 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  47 

so  too,  only  she  wants  to  bother  me  ;  and  I  have  felt 
some  compunctions,  and  as  if  I  ought  to  have  stopped 
and  asked  what  had  happened  to  him ;  because  if  he 
is  a  stranger  in  town,  we  might  have  given  him  some 
help. 

But  what  was  he  doing  in  that  out-of-the-way  court 
and  that  tenement  house  ?  Anna  has  quite  upset  me 
by  suggesting  that  he,  too,  may  be  asking  what  I  was 
doing  there.  She  also  is  very  sure  that  she  saw 
him  looking  after  us,  as  we  got  into  the  West  End 
car. 

Your  letter  has  come  at  last,  but  you  have  not  yet 
received  my  first  one  to  you ;  but  Cousin  Rupert  took 
care  of  that,  and  said  he  would  see  that  it  reached 
you ;  and  he  has  arranged  for  some  one  to  call  every 
day  for  my  letters  to  you  and  to  everybody,  —  some 
body  who  will  see  they  are  mailed  properly.  You 
hope,  in  your  letter,  that  I  will  write  you  some  de 
scription  of  Boston,  and  the  streets  and  the  Common, 
etc.,  and  I  have  not  sent  you  a  word  of  description. 

I  am  still  much  bewildered  at  the  crowds  in  the 
streets,  and  wonder  if  the  time  is  really  going  to 
come  when  "  everybody  "  is  out  of  town.  One  place 
is  particularly  dreaded  by  me,  and  that  is  the  crossing 
over  Park  Square.  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for 
calling  it  a  square ;  for  four  or  five  streets  all  come  in 
at  angles,  the  Common  and  Public  Garden  form  an 
angle  on  one  side,  and  electric  cars  and  horse-cars 
of  every  description  and  color  come  crossing  each 
other  on  all  these  streets.  They  do  say  that  as  many 
as  two  women  a  week  are  knocked  down  here  by  carts 
or  cars  and  carried  to  the  hospital,  and  many  of  them 
die.  This  may  be  an  exaggeration.  I  am  most 
afraid  of  the  wild  horses  careering  about  here  as  I 
struggle  to  cross  to  a  middle  point  where  there  is  an 
electric  lamp  and  a  place  of  refuge,  —  not  such  wild 


48  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

horses  and  mustangs  as  you  are  seeing  in  your  West 
ern  wanderings,  only  extra  car-horses  that  stand  about 
at  this  corner,  to  drag  any  horse-cars  that  come  along 
up  a  slope  that  there  is  supposed  to  be  here.  I  have 
failed  to  see  that  there  is  any  ascent,  having  been 
brought  up  on  the  side  of  Astney  Mountain  in  Ver 
mont.  But  I  am  always  glad  to  see  an  extra  horse 
come  to  help  pull  on  the  crowded  cars  any  time ;  only 
I  am  very  much  afraid  of  them,  and  fear  that  one  day 
I  may  be  one  of  the  women  carried  to  the  hospital. 

A  delightful  plan  of  Aunt  Martha's  has  just  been 
carried  into  effect.  She  was  a  little  worried  that  I 
should  be  in  the  house  alone,  as  she  calls  it,  even 
with  the  staid  housekeeper.  "  Suppose  anybody 
wants  to  come  and  see  you,"  she  said  before  she  left. 
"  I  do  .not  think  it  would  be  quite  proper  to  receive 
company  alone."  I  insisted  I  should  have  no  "com 
pany  "  and  no  time  to  receive ;  but  she  has  been 
writing  notes,  and  arranging  that  Anna  Davis  shall 
come  and  stay  here  with  me.  Anna  is  many  years 
older  than  I,  with  experience  in  Boston;  and  Aunt 
Martha  evidently  thinks  she  will  tame  my  wild  aspi 
rations  with  her  sober  wisdom.  So  she  has  just  come, 
and  is  established  in  Maria's  pretty  room,  and  we  are 
very  happy.  She  is  a  very  busy  person,  so  we  may 
not  be  together  so  very  much  ;  but  we  shall  have  our 
evenings  together,  and  can  make  such  pleasant  plans 
for  excursions  about  town.  Anna  points  out  that 
if  my  friend  of  Class  Day  should  turn  up  to  call  some 
day  with  his  bandaged  head,  she  can  receive  him  with 
all  propriety;  but  I  tell  her,  as  I  have  told  Aunt 
Martha,  that  I  shall  not  "receive." 

We  went  Saturday  last  to  the  school  festival  at  the 
Mechanics  Building,  where  over  three  thousand  grad 
uates  from  the  Boston  public  schools  assembled  for  a 
reception.  It  was  a  beautiful  occasion.  I  was  so 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  49 

glad  to  see  this  famous  large  building,  of  which  I 
have  heard  so  much,  —  and  all  crowded,  my  dear,  — 
and  bands  of  music,  with  processions  of  the  children  ; 
and  each  one  of  them,  as  all  passed  over  the  platform, 
received  a  beautiful  bunch  of  flowers.  Every  girl  in 
Boston  must  have  been  in  that  crowded  hall.  The 
Mayor  spoke  to  the  children,  and  after  the  giving 
of  the  flowers,  every  child  had  a  mug  of  ice-cream 
and  a  box  of  cake ;  and  after  that  came  dancing  in  the 
large  hall ;  and  it  was  all  such  a  pretty,  merry  sight ! 
It  was  a  lovely  occasion,  and  we  were  very  fortunate 
to  have  tickets. 

I  have  not  told  how  I  have  enjoyed  the  Sunday  here. 
Anna  and  I  went  first  to  the  Arlington  Street  Church, 
but  it  was  closed ;  so  we  went  to  the  Second  Church, 
where  we  came  in  upon  an  exquisite  choral  service, 
and  heard  a  beautiful  and  most  helpful  sermon  from 
Mr.  Horton.  I  can't  venture  to  tell  you  how  full 
of  poetry  and  strength  the  sermon  was,  about  the 
"  lions  "  in  one's  path,  "  social  lions,"  even  "  religious 
lions." 

Some  of  the  churches  will  close  for  the  summer ; 
but  we  are  promised  good  preaching  in  many  that 
will  be  open.  We  had  a  lovely  walk  through  the 
Garden,  as  we  left  the  church,  along  the  gay  flower- 
borders,  and  sitting  a  while  0*1  the  inviting  seats. 
This  letter  will  have  to  hurry  away  without  my  tell 
ing  you  of  the  delights  of  the  Common  and  Garden. 


50  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  FIFTH. 

VII. 

HAKEY  TO   HIS   MOTHER. 

NORTH  NESS,  R.  I.,  July  5,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  You  will  wonder  to  know 
why  I  am  here;  but  I  will  tell  you  before  I  have 
done,  if  these  newspaper  men  do  not  cut  off  the  end, 
as  they  did  the  last  time.  Indeed,  I  was  so  sorry,  not 
to  say  angry.  I  sent  you  the  card  as  soon  as  I  knew ; 
but  I  did  not  get  their  old  paper  for  a  day  or  two. 
Our  newsman  is  a  fool,  and  he  did  not  have  enough ; 
and  it  was  not  till  I  met  Carruthers  in  the  street,  and 
he  said  he  thought  I  was  dead,  that  I  was  alarmed 
about  you. 

Eeally,  if  it  had  been  at  all  bad,  they  would  have 
telegraphed  you  from  the  hospital,  or  they  say  they 
would.  But  as  they  did  not  know  who  I  was,  how 
they  would  know  where  to  telegraph  I  do  not  know. 
You  see,  the  first  thing  I  knew  was  Monday  morning 
when  the  man  next  me  —  I  was  in  27  and  he  was  in 
28  —  had  his  breakfast.  He  had  only  one  arm,  and 
was  awkward  with  the  other,  and  knocked  down  his 
coffee-cup.  That  made  a  smash,  and  they  came  in 
between  his  bed  and  mine,  and  that  made  a  row. 
They  pushed  my  bed  one  side,  and  so  I  woke  up. 
Then  I  made  a  row,  and  asked  where  I  was.  And 
they  said  I  was  all  right,  but  I  must  not  talk  till  the 
doctor  came.  I  said  who  was  the  doctor;  and  then 
I  found  out  that  I  was  in  the  hospital.  I  was  for 
getting  up ;  but  I  could  not  see  my  clothes,  and  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  51 

"  sense  of  the  meeting  "  was  that  I  should  stay  in 
bed.  If  I  had  got  up,  I  should  have  had  to  go  about 
town  in  the  nightgown  they  had  put  on  me.  That 
would  have  excited  surprise,  and  I  might  have  been 
put  in  the  newspapers.  So  I  compromised ;  I  said 
if  they  would  let  me  wash  myself,  and  bring  me  some 
breakfast,  I  would  not  spill  it,  and  I  would  wait  till 
the  doctor  came.  I  said  they  might  bring  beefsteak 
and  omelette.  They  laughed  and  went  off,  and  true 
enough  the  beefsteak  and  omelette  came. 

Then  they  brought  me  the  "News,"  a  jolly  little 
paper  we  have  which  only  costs  one  cent,  and  I  read 
that  through.  Then  a  fellow  lent  me  a  novel,  all 
blood  and  thunder,  and  I  got  tired  to  death  of  the 
bed  and  the  nightgown  and  the  novel ;  and  then  the 
doctor  came.  He  took  off  a  bandage  they  had  put 
round  my  head,  and  he  looked  at  my  tongue,  felt 
of  my  pulse,  and  asked  a,-  lot  of  questions.  And  then 
he  said  there  was  nothing  the  matter,  but  that  it  was 
very  remarkable. 

I  told  him  that  was  just  what  I  had  told  the  nurse. 
Then  the  nurse  asked  what  she  should  do.  By  this 
time  I  think  the  doctor  was  tired  of  us  both,  and  he 
laughed  and  told  her  to  bring  me  my  clothes.  And 
she  did.  There  was  a  screen  up  so  I  could  dress  my 
self  with  decorum  ;  and  I  bade  them  all  good-by,  and 
said  I  was  much  obliged  to  them,  —  which,  in  a  way, 
was  true.  I  got  the  doctor  to  tell  me  what  had 
happened. 

You  see,  a  great  thundering  wire  had  come  slam 
ming  down,  and  hit  me  on  the  head,  —  or  hat.  They 
say  if  it  were  a  horse,  it  would  have  killed  him,  be 
cause  he  has  no  hat.  It  is  not  really  a  thundering 
wire,  but  a  lightning  wire,  because  it  is  as  full  of 
electricity  as  they  can  make  it.  Well,  this  one  broke 
or  something,  and  came  slamming  down.  "Fortu- 


52  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

nately,"  the  doctor  said,  "it  did  not  strike  the 
horses."  By  which  he  meant,  I  suppose,  that  it 
did  strike  me.  All  the  good  fortune  that  I  see  in 
that  is,  that  Mrs.  Metcalf  was  in  for  my  breakfast ; 
for  nobody  offered  me  any  bill  at  the  hospital,  and 
I  offered  nobody  any  money. 

They  did  say  I  had  better  have  a  bandage  on  my 
forehead;  for  there  was  a  visible  cut  there,  and  I 
believe  some  blood  had  flowed  from  it.  So  an  attend 
ant,  a  sort  of  Bob  Sawyer,  put  on  this  bandage  in  an 
ante-room  there  was,  and  I  went  into  the  office  of  the 
whole,  and  bade  the  regular  "  Top-Sawyer  "  good-by. 
They  made  me  count  my  money,  which  had  all  been 
saved  for  me  ;  and  I  gave  them  a  regular  receipt  for 
that  and  the  office  keys  and  my  knife  and  all  my 
things. 

I  tell  you  I  made  tracks  for  the  office.  But  when 
I  came  there,  nobody  seemed  to  have  missed  me. 
There  were  a  lot  of  paper-hangers  and  grainers  and 
whitewashmen,  making  things  generally  uncomfort 
able.  I  rather  think  everybody  had  been  late  after 
Sunday,  and  that  they  all  thought  I  had  been  early 
and  stepped  out.  I  did  take  care  to  go  round  before 
night  to  Miss  Tryphena's  to  tell  her  that  I  was  all 
right.  But  I  did  not  find  her  at  home.  Then  I  wrote 
all  this  at  length  to  you.  And  those  COMMONWEALTH 
people  just  cut  off  all  the  end  of  it,  so  I  was  awfully 
frightened  when  I  came  to  read  their  old  paper ;  for 
I  knew  how  it  would  startle  you.  And  when  I  went 
to  blow  them  up,  they  took  the  other  tack  and  blew 
me  up  for  being  too  long.  And  when  I  asked  for  the 
end  of  my  letter,  they  said  they  supposed  it  was  in 
the  waste  basket;  perhaps  the  boy  had  kindled  the 
engine  fire  with  it.  Anyway,  I  had  to  come  home 
and  to  send  you  the  postal,  which  I  hope  you  received. 

I  told  you  I  would  write  a  journal.     But  it  is  as  old 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  53 

John  Adams  says,  when  you  are  doing  anything  worth 
doing  you  have  no  time  to  write  your  journal,  and 
when  you  write  a  journal,  therefore,  it  is  clear  that 
there  is  nothing  worth  putting  down.  I  remember  that 
Robinson  Crusoe  said  that  when  he  wrote  his  diary 
he  found  he  put  into  it  many  things  which  he  thought 
important  at  the  time,  which  afterward  did  not  seem 
necessary.  You  know  he  was  short  of  ink,  and  could 
find  no  nut-galls  on  his  island,  nothing  but  water 
melons  and  turtles.  Anyway,  I  will  not  try  to  dis 
tinguish  Tuesday  from  Wednesday  now,  nor  tell  what 
my  new  chief  did  and  did  not  determine  about  the 
color  of  the  office  walls  and  the  gas-burners.  I  shall 
skip  to  the  great  event  of  Friday. 

Only  think  of  it!  I  came  within  one  of  coming  up 
to  see  you  at  Atherton.  But  even  if  I  had  been 
willing  to  spend  the  money  —  as  indeed  I  was,  dear 
Mother  —  I  should  have  had  to  turn  right  round  to 
come  back  again,  as  soon  as  old  Segar  could  water  his 
horses  so  as  to  go  back  by  the  night  train.  You  see 
the  whitewashers  got  in  with  their  scaffolds  at  last 
into  the  new  offices,  and  even  the  new  treasurer  could 
not  pretend  that  there  was  anything  for  us  to  do. 
His  name  is  still  a  secret,  and  I  am  afraid  that  if  I 
told  you,  some  of  the  wrong  people  might  get  THE 
COMMONWEALTH.  This  gave  me  Friday  for  a  clear 
day  out,  for  we  were  told  that  we  need  none  of  us 
come  till  Saturday.  I  hardly  knew  what  I  should  do 
in  that  desert ;  but  as  dear  Aunt  Joey  says,  "  it  was 
well  ordered,"  as  we  shall  see.  I  went  round  with 
George  Thursday  night  to  the  "  Pop."  This  is  short 
for  the  Popular  Concerts  in  the  Music  Hall.  No,  it  is 
not  one  of  the  organ  concerts  you  used  to  go  to  when 
you  were  here.  They  took  down  that  organ,  because 
it  was  the  largest  in  America,  I  believe,  and  packed 


54  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

it  up  in  a  burying-ground.  This  gave  them  more 
room,  so  they  now  till  that  great  hall  with  nice  little 
tables,  with  chairs  round  them ;  and  you  go  in  and 
sit  at  a  table,  and  may  drink  anything  you  choose 
from  water  as  far  as  lager,  but  no  farther.  You 
need  n't  drink  anything ;  but  you  can  eat  ice-cream 
or  whatever  you  want  to  eat,  if  they  have  it.  I 
should  not  ask  for  buffalo  hump.  I  enclose  the  little 
programme,  and  you  will  see  that  the  music  is  really 
very  good.  It  is  a  nice  place  to  spend  an  evening. 
What  you  mean  by  "popular"  is  that  the  music  is 
not  Bach  or  Beethoven,  or  even  Wagner;  but  some 
thing  more  light  and  jolly.  The  orchestra  is  made 
up  of  some  of  the  best  musicians  in  town. 

Well,  here  it  was  that  George's  friend,  who  was  so 
good  to  us  at  Class  Day,  proposed  that  we  should  go 
to  New  London  the  next  day  and  see  Harvard  beat 
Yale.  I  did  not  think  Harvard  would  beat  Yale ;  but 
all  the  same  I  said  I  would  go  gladly.  And  we  went. 

We  came  down  on  a  special  train  from  Boston.  We 
had  to  start  at  7.30  in  the  morning  and  were  to  come 
back  in  the  afternoon.  As  we  came  over  the  new 
bridge  at  New  London,  we  could  see  a  swarm  of  tugs 
and  small  boats  hovering  around  to  watch  the  race. 
It  was  a  perfectly  lovely  day.  We  had  deliberated 
a  good  deal  as  to  the  best  way  of  seeing  everything,  — 
whether  to  follow  the  boats  on  a  tug  or  to  take  the 
observation  train  which  goes  on  the  railroad  line 
parallel  to  the  course.  But  it  happened  by  good,  luck 
that  as  we  came  into  the  station  a  friend  of  Carruthers 
gave  him  two  tickets  for  a  good  car  on  the  train.  You 
see  the  train  runs  along  the  shore,  so  you  keep  nearly 
even  with  the  boats.  We  got  on  board  and  found  our 
selves  with  a  lot  of  Harvard  fellows.  Two  of  them 
had  made  up  a  lot  of  awfully  funny  songs,  and  sang 
them  at  intervals,  some  of  them  with  "gags "  selected 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  55 

for  the  occasion.  The  observation  train,  as  they  call 
it,  is  a  lot  of  common  freight  cars  with  board  seats 
put  on,  rising  above  each  other,  so  that  you  sit  just 
as  you  might  at  the  circus  and  ride  sideways.  They 
are  covered  with  bunting  and  make  quite  a  fine  show. 
There  were  fellows  from  both  colleges  on  board ;  but 
we  were  in  car  22  with  a  great  lot  of  Harvard  men. 

Generally,  the  race  begins  way  up  the  river,  and 
the  boats  come  down  with  the  stream.  But  this  time 
it  began  at  Winthrop  Point,  where  is  usually  the 
finish.  The  start  is  just  above  the  new  bridge,  if 
you  recollect  when  we  crossed  it  last  year.  They 
were  very  punctual,  starting  at  three  minutes  after 
eleven.  The  man  says,  "  Are  you  ready,  gentlemen  ?  " 
waits  a  minute,  and  then  says,  "  Go  !"  and  they  start ; 
but  of  course  we  could  not  hear  this.  From  the  very 
first,  Harvard  went  right  to  the  front.  We  could  tell 
which  was  which  by  the  blades  of  the  oars,  Harvard's 
being  red,  and  Yale's  blue.  The  men  are  stripped  to 
the  skin,  so  you  cannot  tell  them  by  the  university 
colors -;  but  I  suppose  the  time  will  come  when  they 
will  go  into  such  contests  like  the  old  Picts,  in  two 
colors.  If  you  care  to  know,  the  Harvard  boat  was 
cedar,  and  the  Yale  boat  was  paper.  Harvard  gained 
from  the  very  beginning.  Still,  I  think  it  was  sup 
posed  at  first  that  this  was  by  a  special  spurt,  and  that 
Yale  would  overtake  her ;  but  she  never  did.  In  two 
miles  Harvard  was  seven  lengths  ahead,  and,  prac 
tically,  as  great  an  advantage  as  this  at  that  point 
means  that  a  boat  is  going  to  win.  Harvard  had  the 
east  track,  which  is  called  the  eel-grass  track,  but  that 
did  not  seem  to  make  any  difference. 

Now,  in  the  observation  car,  you  keep  abreast  of 
them  all  the  time.  But  you  can  see  how  exciting 
it  is  when  you  pass  into  a  cut  on  the  road,  where  you 
cannot  see  the  boats,  so  there  is  great  yelling  when 


56  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

you  come  out  of  the  cut  into  the  open  air  again.  At 
the  finish  Harvard  was  thirteen  lengths  ahead.  This 
was  just  opposite  the  Harvard  quarters  where  the 
men  had  stayed  while  they  practised.  The  Harvard 
boat-house  was  below,  the  Yale  and  Columbia  farther 
up  the  river.  You  can  guess  if  there  was  not  terrific 
cheering  on  our  car  when  the  victory  came.  And 
when  there  was  a  chance  for  singing,  our  poets  had 
some  fit  lines  for  the  triumph. 

The  crew  went  at  once  to  their  quarters,  so  that  we 
saw  no  more  of  them  then.  We  went  back  to  town 
on  the  observation  train.  But  in  the  afternoon  we 
saw  all  the  crew  at  the  Pequot  House.  Here  was  a 
procession  and  great  congratulations.  But  we  could 
not  stay  for  the  evening  jollification,  and  came  home 
on  the  eight  o'clock  train.  I  asked  everybody  why 
one  of  the  two  colleges  did  not  row  against  Cornell, 
seeing  that  boat  seems  to  make  better  time  than  any 
body.  But  the  question  was  not  popular,  and  I  did 
not  push  it  too  far.  Certainly,  I  got  no  answer. 

Here  I  was  interrupted,  and  I  finish  this  letter  at 
the  office.  The  whitewash  men  have  gone.  And 
now  I  have  so  much  to  tell  that  I  shall  tell  nothing. 
Certainly,  as  that  Frenchman  said,  Boston  is  the  most 
entertaining  place  in  summer.  In  winter,  I  am 
afraid,  it  is  more  stupid.  You  know  they  say  that 
there  is  not  one  of  the  real  Bostonese  who  knows  there 
is  anything  beyond  Watertown.  That  is  the  town 
next  Cambridge.  They  built  a  road  there  in  the  first 
years  of  the  colony,  and  the  builders  reported  that 
there  would  never  be  any  need  of  its  going  any 
further. 

The  Frenchman  reminds  me  of  my  Russian,  whose 
name  is  Gabriel  Vostikoff.  He  seems  to  think  that 
I  shall  know  that  this  is  a  very  great  name.  Perhaps 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  57 

you  and  father  do.  But  really  I  never  heard  of  it 
before.  Anyway,  here  he  is,  —  and  I  met  him  in  a 
street  car,  which  is  a  sort  of  a  club-house.  I  bowed 
to  him,  because  he  moved  into  the  middle  of  the  seat 
and  let  me  sit  down.  This  showed  he  was  a  gentle 
man.  A  blackguard  keeps  the  end  of  the  seat  and 
makes  you  crowd  by  him.  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
most  women  do  the  same  thing.  I  bowed  to  him  and 
thanked  him.  He  then  took  out  a  writing  tablet,  and 
in  an  exquisite  hand  wrote,  "  Canst  thou  inform  me 
which  road  I  shall  go  to  find  the  Bureau  of  the  Post  ?  " 
So  I  told  him.  But  he  shook  his  head,  and  gave  me 
the  tablet  and  pencil  for  me  to  write  my  answer.  Of 
course,  I  supposed  that  "  he  was  deaf  and  was  dumb," 
as  our  old  story  used  to  say.  But  no  such  thing.  We 
are  great  friends  now.  I  had  him  up  at  the  office  to 
direct  some  circulars,  and  everybody  likes  him  and 
his  good-natured  ways,  and  his  exquisite  handwriting. 
What  a  passport  into  civilized  life  that  is,  to  be 
sure. 

It  seems  that  he  was  a  student  somewhere  in 
Russia,  and  he  fell  in  with  an  old  French  review, 
where  there  was  a  very  rosy  account  of  Cornell  Uni 
versity.  It  told  how  it  was  a  school  for  all,  if  only 
they  wanted  to  learn,  and  especially  how  you  got 
through  for  nothing  by  dint  of  working  with  your 
hands  half  the  day,  so  that  you  could  work  with  your 
head  the  other  half.  So  the  good  fellow  started,  and 
got  some  money  together  to  come  to  Cornell.  Little 
enough  it  was,  too.  He  got  to  Hamburg,  and  then 
had  the  wit  to  earn  his  passage  on  a  tramp  steamer 
somehow,  so  that  he  landed  here  with  a  lot  of  German 
coin,  which  may  be  worth  six  dollars. 

Then  comes  the  droll  thing  which  made  me  think 
he  was  deaf  and  dumb.  He  had  learned  English  so 
that  he  might  be  ready  to  come.  You  know  how 


58  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

good  they  are  at  languages.  But  he  had  learned  by 
some  double-refined  improved  patent  system,  so  that 
when  he  spoke  it  nobody  understood  him,  and  when 
they  spoke  to  him  he  did  not  understand  them.  I 
wish  I  could  write  down  for  you  how  queer  it  is,  and 
how  senseless  when  he  speaks.  But  he  had  his  gram 
mar  and  his  spelling  and  his  handwriting  quite  right. 
So  that,  by  taking  a  deaf  and  dumb  man's  methods 
he  comes  out  first  rate.  And  he  is  so  jolly  and  good- 
natured  that  everybody  likes  him.  He  and  I  are 
going  at  this  moment  down  to  "  The  White  Squadron." 
That  is  the  United  States  fleet  which  is  now  in  the 
harbor.  Our  company  has  a  contract  for  supplying 
Jack  with  all  his  clothes-pins,  and  I  am  to  see  one  of 
the  officers  about  it,  if  I  can  find  him. 

P.  S.  As  you  see,  this  letter  is  a  thing  of  shreds 
and  patches.  I  had  hardly  written  the  within,  when 
my  Russian  bear,  as  we  call  him,  came  in,  and  I  took 
him  off  to  lunch.  We  do  this  when  we  can,  for  we  are 
afraid  he  will  starve  before  our  eyes,  so  eager  is  he  to 
save  up  the  money  for  his  journey  to  Cornell.  What 
a  shame  it  is  that  so  many  fellows,  who  have  all  the 
chances  to  go  to  college,  do  nothing  when  they  are 
there,  while  so  fine  a  fellow  as  he  is,  finds  his  wheels 
blocked  all  the  time  when  he  wants  really  to  go  to 
work. 

Well !  little,  enough  I  thought  when  I  was  writing 
before  what  would  happen  before  I  was  done.  I.  took 
him  to  a  little  place  I  have  found,  where  the  coffee  is 
good  and  the  bread  good  enough,  (though  not  like 
yours,  dear  mother),  and  where  on  clam-chowder  days 
they  know  how  to  make  that.  And  I  gave  him  his 
lessons  in  pronunciation,  —  that  he  must  not  say 
"co-ug,"  but  "koff,"  when  he  was  talking  about  a 
sudden  ejaculation  of  breath  from  the  lungs,  and  so 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  59 

on.  I  took  care  that  he  should  have  enough  nitrogen 
and  phosphorus  and  carbon  tucked  into  him  to  keep 
the  furnace  a-going,  and  then  I  brought  him  back  to 
the  office. 

We  understood  well  enough  that  it  was  half  a  show 
day  and  half  a  day  of  instruction.  Still  if  I  could  get 
a  chance  for  business,  I  was  to  try  to  see  somebody 
who  had  some  authority  and  who  knew  something  at 
the  same  time.  You  see  our  contract  provides  that 
their  clothes-pins  are  to  be  made  of  cherry  wood.  A 
•wise  Providence  only  knows  why.  Anybody  who 
knows  anything  about  clothes-pins  knows  that  when 
they  are  made  of  walnut  they  are  just  as  good  as  the 
cherry  ones.  Why  the  contract  says  cherry,  nobody 
can  guess. 

I  did  not  really  suppose  that  Admiral  Walker  knew 
or  cared.  But  it  was  supposed  that  if  I  kept  my  eyes 
open  and  used  my  advantages,  I  might  have  a  chance 
to  find  out,  and  that,  in  an  informal  and  unofficial 
conversation,  I  might  do  what  we  had  not  been  able 
to  do  in  correspondence  with  the  Department.  They 
only  respectfully  refer  our  letters  from  one  bureau  to 
another  and  we  never  get  any  answer.  For  this  enter 
prise  the  new  treasurer  gave  me  a  general  letter  of 
introduction  to  Admiral  Walker  or  any  officer  on  the 
squadron.  It  was  written  in  our  handsomest  style 
and  put  up  in  the  Company's  envelope.  I  asked  if  I 
might  take  the  Bear  with  me,  and  they  said  certainly, 
and  we  started. 

We  went  to  Long  Wharf,  —  the  historical  Long 
Wharf.  It  is  very  different  now  from  what  it  was  when 
it  was  so  very  Long,  for  the  land  has  encroached  on 
it  so  that  half  of  it  is  not  a  wharf  at  all.  I  was 
tempted  by  Satan  to  take  the  Bear  and  show  him  T 
wharf,  and  I  explained  to  him,  what  he  did  not  in 
the  least  understand,  that  it  is  named  T  from  its 


60  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

shape.  [Memorandum:  the  Governor's  aids  took  a 
distinguished  historian  down  there  a  few  years  ago, 
and  told  him  it  was  named  T  because  the  tea  was 
thrown  over  there.  Keally  that  was  at  a  wholly  dif 
ferent  place.]  Then  we  crossed  over  and  I  tell  you 
all  the  boatmen  went  for  us. 

After  a  minute  I  took  a  sailboat  which  I  liked  and 
I  let  two  other  fellows  go  with  us.  Of  course  they 
were  to  pay  their  half.  But  thence  came  all  our  woe. 
Just  as  the  man  was  ready  and  we  were  going  down 
the  steps,  a  larger  party  came  along,  and  their  boat,  a 
private  boat,  ran  up,  with  two  or  three  gentlemanly 
looking  oarsmen.  I  told  my  boatman  to  wait,  and  we 
stood  back  to  let  their  people  pass.  Of  course  I 
supposed  they  were  all  strangers.  But  at  once  I  recog 
nized  that  pretty  girl  I  told  you  I  danced  with  at 
Memorial  Hall. 

We  had  a  sail,  as  I  said,  and  they  rowed.  But  they 
rowed  well,  —  used  to  it,  as  half  those  Harvard  men 
are,  so  that  they  got  to  the  Newark  just  as  soon  as 
we  did.  Once  more  I  told  my  boatman  to  wait  for 
them,  and  he  did  so.  This  time  my  pretty  partner 
recognized  me,  and  she  bowed  to  me  very  nicely  as 
she  went  up  the  great  high  ladder  which  takes  you 
up  the  ship's  side.  At  the  top  and  at  the  bottom  there 
are  fine  looking  sailors  to  make  it  as  easy  as  they  can. 
I  was  well  pleased  to  think  that  I  had  so  good  an 
opportunity  to  speak  with  her  again  as  this  would 
give  me.  But  I  must  tell  all  this  story  as  shortly  as 
I  can,  or  they  will  cut  off  the  end  of  it  and  that  is 
the  only  part  which  is  essential.  For  there  is  many  a 
slip  between  cup  and  lip.  Two  ladies  went  up  after 
her,  and  as  the  last  one  came  near  the  top,  she  started 
about  something  and  dropped  one  of  her  wraps,  which 
came  floating  down  above  us.  One  of  these  other  men, 
a  clumsy  fellow,  tried  to  catch  it.  I  believe  he  did 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  61 

catch  it,  but  he  caught  his  foot  in  a  thwart  and  went 
over  heavily  himself.  He  grabbed  as  he  went  at  our 
boatman  who  was  taking  in  his  mast,  —  I  do  not  know 
why,  —  and  was  using  both  his  hands.  Both  of  them 
fell  together,  the  boat  was  already  a  little  keeled  over, 
and  in  a  minute  she  took  in  a  great  wave  of  water, 
and  all  of  us  were  ducked  into  — 


62  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  SIXTH. 

VIII. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  July  17,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE, — I  suppose  you  will  hardly  be 
lieve  that  my  life  is  still  of  the  "  rackety  "  sort,  and 
if  it  is  going  to  be  more  so  next  winter,  I  do  not  quite 
see  how  my  poor  little  head  will  stand  it.  I  have  not 
yet  had  a  chance  to  begin  on  "  regular  hours  of  study," 
which  I  had  planned  out,  at  least  for  the  summer 
days.  I  do  have  now  my  work  in  the  morning,  —  for 
"  work  "  it  is,  as  I  shall  show ;  and  I  will  begin  with 
it  the  first  thing,  lest  it  should  be  crowded  out  by  the 
history  of  afternoon  experiences. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  a  picture  of  that  first  day 
at  the  Vacation  School,  and  the  crowds  of  children 
who  "  come  to  school  because,  they  want  to."  There 
were  between  two  and  three  hundred,  of  various  ages 
and  sizes,  boys  and  girls.  I  quite  wished  I  could  have 
the  little  things  who  crowded  into  the  Kindergarten, 
but  I  do  not  know  that  they  were  more  interesting 
than  the  rough  boys  over  twelve  years  of  age,  because 
you  wondered  at  seeing  them  there,  and  these  were  to 
fall  to  my  share.  The  Kindergarten  teacher,  with 
fifty  children  to  attend  to,  must  have  something  of  an 
experience  with  them ;  but  not  greater  than  mine, 
you  can  believe,  to  find  myself  standing  up  opposite 
twenty  or  thirty  boys,  great  fellows  at  least  twelve  or 
thirteen  years  old,  evidently  coming  for  fun  rather 
than  for  "  instruction."  A  terror  came  over  me  at  the 
remembrance  of  some  of  the  experiences  in  these 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  63 

schools  in  earlier  years  that  I  had  been  told  of,  when 
it  was  necessary  to  have  policemen  in  the  building 
to  keep  down  these  struggling  spirits.  But  this  year 
they  were  going  to  do  without  a  policeman.  What  a 
dreadful  thing  it  would  be  if  they  should  get  the  better 
of  me,  and  a  policeman  should  have  to  be  called  in ! 

But  I  looked  round  on  the  bright,  jolly  faces,  and 
the  very  terror  of  the  policeman  gave  me  courage. 
What  a  pity,  I  seemed  to  say  to  myself,  that  these 
gay  boys  should  grow  up  with  the  idea  that  only  the 
policeman's  club  could  keep  them  right.  They  are  not 
criminals  or  convicts  ;  they  are  boys  that  like  to  have 
a  good  time.  So  I  found  myself  telling  them  how  I 
had  come  to  Boston  for  the  first  time,  and  how  I  had 
not  yet  seen  all  the  wonderful  public  buildings,  and 
how  they  would  have  to  teach  me  where  to  go  and 
what  to  see.  And  I  went  on  by  telling  them  how,  a 
day  or  two  before,  I  had  walked  out  through  the  park 
that  lies  beyond  Commonwealth  Avenue,  and  I  had 
to  stop  and  tell  them  who  Lief  Ericson  was  and  how 
his  statue  looks  up  through  the  park,  and  how  I 
wonder  if  he  does  not  want  sometimes  to  turn  the 
other  way  and  look  down  the  avenue  of  beautiful 
houses  on  either  side,  —  because  they  had  all  grown 
up  since  his  time,  —  with  its  brick  sidewalks  and  easy 
driveway ;  while,  as  he  looks  out  now  he  sees  the 
trees  and  flowers,  sweet  as  perhaps  he  saw  when  he 
fhst  landed  here.  At  least  there  might  then  have 
been  the  wild  roses  in  bloom,  such  as  I  have  seen 
there  —  that  is,  if  it  were  in  the  season,  —  and  I  said 
we  would  try  and  find  out  if  it  were.  And  I  asked 
them  if  they  knew  what  flowers  there  were  in  that 
park,  and  most  of  them  had  never  been  there  and  did 
not  know  there  was  such  a  statue  as  Lief  Ericson's, 
nor  had  heard  his  name,  though  they  had  seen  George 
Washington  in  the  Public  Garden. 


64  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

I  may  as  well  go  on  and  tell  you  how  I  told  them 
about  my  walking  further  some  days  before,  through 
the  park  to  the  new  bridge  to  Cambridge,  —  such  a 
lovely  walk  as  it  is,  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  one 
can  take  here,  —  and  how  I  had  also  seen  a  map  of 
old  Boston.  It  was  one  that  Dr.  F.  showed  to  me 
which  gave  a  picture  of  how  Boston  looked  on  the 
day  of  the  battle  of  Lexington ;  no  bridges  but  one 
across  the  Charles  River  (and  I  set  them  to  counting 
how  many  there  are  now),  and  this  one  bridge  very 
much  in  the  place  of  the  new  Harvard  Bridge  one 
walks  across  to  Cambridge.  It  was  to  this  bridge 
that  "our"  men  went  on  that  day  of  the  battle  of 
Lexington,  and  they  took  away  the  boards  from  off 
the  bridge,  so  that  the  British  need  not  follow  them 
out  of  Boston.  But  they  left  the  boards  in  a  pile  so 
near  the  bridge  that  the  British  could  put  them  back 
again,  which  they  did,  and  marched  over  on  their  way 
to  Lexington.  I  don't  believe  I  told  it  as  connectedly 
as  this  even,  for  I  let  them  ask  questions  and  stop  me 
to  give  their  views,  and  they  were  very  sure  they 
should  not  have  been  so  stupid  as  to  leave  the  boards. 
But  I  do  not  have  to  draw  upon  my  own  resources 
in  this  way  all  the  time,  for  there  are  so  many  de 
lightful  occupations,  and  teachers  arranged  for  the 
different  hours,  that  we  can  fill  up  the  time  with 
great  variety. 

The  boys  enjoy  the  drawing  and  clay-modelling  and 
whittling  and  cane-seating,  and  I  can't  yet  tell  you  all 
of  the  varieties  of  work.  You  see  it  is,  as  I  wrote  you, 
all  on  the  "  Harry  and  Lucy  "  principle.  The  scholars 
are  not  kept  studying  all  the  time,  but  they  are  led  to 
be  interested  in  things,  and  to  do  something  them 
selves  with  their  hands  with  things.  Harry  and 
Lucy  in  the  old  book  were  taken  by  their  parents  to 
see  a  brick  kiln,  and  Harry  immediately  wanted  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  65 

make  bricks  himself,  and  his  father  let  him  try.  So 
here,  the  boys  can  carry  out  the  Yankee  love  of  whit 
tling,  or  cultivate  it  if  they  are  not  real  Yankees 
themselves,  and  they  are  encouraged  to  make  some 
thing.  Harry  did  not  succeed  very  well  with  his 
bricks,  but  just  his  failures  taught  him  something. 
One  of  "  my  "  boys  has  got  hold  of  some  of  "  Hetty's  " 
favorite  old-fashioned  chairs  that  I  sent  from  the 
house  here,  and  he  is  very  proud  of  putting  in  new 
seats. 

At  Denison's,  a  store  on  Franklin  Street  where 
I  have  been,  they  have  most  bewitching  things 
made  of  tissue  and  crepe  paper,  of  every  possible 
shade  and  color.  There  are  baskets  crocheted  of  tis 
sue  paper  and  twisted  like  ropes,  lamp-shades  orna 
mented  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  and  paper-dolls'  dresses 
that  are  perfectly  fascinating.  They  have  kindly 
asked  some  of  the  teachers  to  come  and  examine  all 
these  things,  that  they  may  teach  the  children.  I 
think  of  sending  some  of  the  things  home,  the  work 
is  so  inviting,  and  they  would  like  it,  I  know,  at  the 
Sewing  Circle,  when  they  are  making  up  things  for  a 
sale  in  the  autumn.  Just  think,  they  had  even  a 
trimmed  hat  all  made  of  tissue  paper,  very  ingenious 
and  pretty,  but  I  fear  not  very  useful  in  a  shower ; 
perhaps,  however,  it  will  do  for  a  fair.  I  should  like 
indeed  to  tell  the  children  at  hoine  about  the  numer 
ous  things  they  might  learn  here  ;  there  are  countless 
things  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  paper-folding,  boats 
and  boxes  to  be  made,  and  very  good  work  is  done  by 
the  girls  in  sewing. 

But  I  must  tell  you  how  fast  my  afternoons  fill  in. 
Last  week  I  tried  to  devote  them  to  excursions  that 
might  rest  me  from  my  morning's  work,  and  you  can't 
think  what  entertaining  things  turned  up.  I  must  re 
serve  for  the  very  last  the  most  exciting  of  all,  and 


66  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND   LUCY. 

our  visit  last  week  to  the  White  Squadron.  I  want 
to  tell  all  the  other  things  first,  lest  they  should  be 
forgotten ;  and  there  hangs  a  tale  to  it,  that  I  must 
leave  for  the  end  of  my  letter.  It  was  not  my  first 
glimpse  of  the  White  Squadron,  because  the  day 
before  Anna  and  I  made  such  a  lovely  excursion  to 
Revere  Beach. 

I  have  written  you  how  I  pine  always  to  see  the 
harbor  and  the  beach  and  the  great  sea,  and  how  dis- 
ippointed  I  was  in  the  beginning  that  I  could  not  sit 
on  a  bench  on  the  Common  and  see  the  great  sea  come 
in  from  there.  So  Anna  agreed  to  go  over  with  me 
to  Revere  Beach,  where  she  had  never  been,  and 
where  she  was  very  sure  we  could  see  the  real  tide 
coming  in.  We  looked  up  the  advertisements  in  the 
papers,  and  found  a  new  way  of  going  through  East 
Boston  to  Winthrop  Junction  in  the  regular  horse- 
cars  —  five-cent  fare  —  and  from  Winthrop  Junction 
to  Revere  Beach  on  the  electric  cars,  a  new  line,  for 
five  cents  more,  advertised  as  the  cheapest  and  pleas- 
antest  way  to  Revere. 

We  took  an  East  Boston  car  at  the  corner  of  Ches 
ter  Park  and  Tremont  Street  and  went  down  through 
Hanover  Street  to  the  East  Boston  ferry,  which  means 
going  straight  through  Boston  from  the  South  End  to 
the  very  end  of  the  North  End.  Crowds  are  still  in 
che  streets,  but  even  I  could  believe  that  they  were  not 
the  real  Boston.  Anna  said  they  all  looked  as  if  they 
came  from  "  Way  Back  "  somewhere.  All  the  shop 
ping  streets,  Temple  Place  and  Winter  Street,  were 
by  no  means  deserted,  but  were  full  of  people.  Then 
down  at  the  end  of  Hanover  Street,  they  all  looked  so 
foreign,  Italians  and  Jews,  women  bare-headed  with 
large  ear-rings,  and  oh,  such  care-worn  faces.  They 
all  seemed  full  of  business,  the  women  looking  at  the 
gay  bedquilts  and  calicoes  hanging  from  the  shop-win- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  67 

dows,  and  the  men  busy  too,  the  corners  of  the  streets 
crowded  with  stands  for  bananas  and  neck-ties.  We 
saw  a  party  of  immigrants  just  landed,  who  looked 
bewildered  enough. 

Then,  as  we  crossed  the  ferry,  we  had  an  admira 
ble  view  of  the  White  Squadron.  We  passed  down 
beside  the  "  Yorktown  "  and  could  really  see  the  officers 
and  sailors  walking  and  lounging  about.  I  must  say 
they  looked  bored  to  death.  Tugs  were  taking  visit 
ors  over  to  the  different  vessels.  I  supposed  then 
that  this  would  be  my  only  view  of  the  whole  fleet. 
I  little  knew  how  I  was  to  be  taken  out  myself  on 
just  such  a  little  boat  as  we  saw  —  but  I  will  not  an 
ticipate,  as  Harriet  Byron  says. 

At  East  Boston  we  changed  to  a  Winthrop  Junc 
tion  car,  passing  through  deserted  streets,  and  at 
last  we  came  in  sight  of  the  sea,  and  a  real  view  of 
the  harbor.  At  the  Junction  we  found  the  electric 
cars,  and  then  such  an  enchanting  ride  across  the 
salt  marshes,  with  the  sea  on  either  side,  whizzing 
across  a  narrow  bridge,  then  down  a  steep  hill ;  and 
I  really  trembled  with  terror,  it  all  looked  so  dan 
gerous,  and  it  seemed  as  if  we  were  skimming  through 
the  air.  And  then  we  were  on  the  beach,  and  far 
away  the  tide  was  coming  up,  on  the  long  stretch 
of  gray  sand  that  invited  us,  and  we  came  down  to 
meet  the  water  and  scamper  away  from  it  as  the  chil 
dren  did.  If  we  had  been  earlier  we  should  have 
stood  there  in  silent  wonder,  or  have  thought  of  our 
Tennyson  and  all  the  wonderful  descriptions  of  tide 
and  sand.  But  the  beach  was  crowded.  Women  had 
brought  out  their  children  to  breathe  the  salt  air,  and 
the  children  were  digging  in  the  sand,  or  perhaps  they 
were  begging  their  mothers  to  buy  them  pop-corn, 
and  there  was  the  tin-type  man  and  the  goat-cart 
filled  with  children,  and  everybody  enjoying  every- 


68  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

thing.  How  Anna  and  I  wished  we  might  make  a 
picture  of  some  of  the  lovely  groups. 

We  stayed  longer  than  we  meant,  for  some  of  the 
children  told  us  we  ought  to  wait  for  the  "gospel 
carriage."  Pretty  soon  it  came  along,  with  "  Gospel 
Carriage  "  written  on  it.  It  was  occupied  by  half  a 
dozen  men  and  women,  with  a  small  organ  used  also 
as  a  pulpit.  A  hymn  was  sung  which  attracted  a 
crowd,  and  then  a  short  discourse  was  given.  I  can 
tell  you  there  was  something  quite  exciting  about  it, 
with  the  background  of  the  tide  coming  up  the  long 
beach,  and  the  crowds  of  children  looking  up  with  won 
der  from  their  different  amusements.  The  wagon  is 
hired  by  the  city  missionaries  and  goes  wherever  they 
think  a  little  good  can  be  done.  In  the  evening  they 
go  to  the  Common  or  the  North  End  or  West  End. 

We  came  home  the  same  way,  having  had  a  delight 
ful  afternoon,  returning  into  the  golden  glow  of  a 
sunset  that  lighted  up  the  ships  in  the  harbor,  as  we 
crossed  again  in  the  ferry-boat. 

I  thought  of  these  children  in  the  sand  the  other 
day,  when  I  went  to  a  lovely  place  that  has  been 
fitted  up  for  a  girls'  gymnasium.  It  is  also  a  play 
ground  for  girls,  and  one  of  the  most  enticing  places 
you  can  imagine.  It  is  a  little  park  on  the  Charles 
River  Embankment.  And  sometime  or  other,  this 
embankment  is  to  be  carried  all  along  the  shore  of 
Charles  River,  on  Charles  Street  and  Beacon  Street. 
Nowadays,  as  you  come  into  Boston  from  Cambridge 
over  the  bridge,  you  see  on  the  curving  shore  of  the 
river  the  stately  row  of  houses  on  Beacon  Street. 
But  I  must  say  the  view  is  not  impressive,  for  you 
see  only  the  back  doors  of  these  houses ;  and  I  ven 
tured  once  to  suggest  to  Aunt  Martha  that  I  thought 
it  would  be  an  improvement  to  turn  all  the  Beacon 
Street  houses  round,  so  that  they  could  face  on  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AXD  LUCY.  69 

river.  She  was  very  much  shocked  at  the  idea  of 
back  doors  on  Beacon  Street ;  but  I  think  they  will 
have  to  ornament  the  backs  of  these  houses,  whenever 
this  embankment  is  finished ;  for  it  will  make  a 
charming  riverside  to  look  out  upon.  Meanwhile,  en 
terprising  Boston  is  taking  advantage  of  an  open  place 
on  Charles  Street  for  this  gymnasium  for  the  girls. 

We  went  into  the  enclosure  under  a  projecting  roof, 
and  such  a  happy  party  we  found  within.  Here  were 
some  beds  of  sand,  in  which  a  crowd  of  little  children 
were  allowed  to  play  and  make  whatever  they  chose, 
sand-pies  or  lofty  towers,  —  for  one  girl  had  formed 
what  looked  like  towers  of  Babel,  a  row  of  them,  each 
one  just  like  its  next  neighbor, — and  all  sorts  of 
fanciful  things.  They  were  having  such  good  fun 
with  their  pails  and  spades,  like  the  children  on  the 
beach,  and  they  delighted  in  talking  to  us,  and  telling 
us  about  their  mud-pies.  It  was  really  hard  to  leave 
them,  and  go  on  to  see  the  gymnasium,  but  we  found 
this  equally  charming. 

Here  were  tilting-bridges  and  balance-swings,  in 
clined  parallels,  climbing-ropes,  and  ladders.  Let  me 
tell  you  about  these  "  inclined  parallels ;  "  they  are 
like  two  bannister-rails  a  foot  or  so  apart.  A  girl 
goes  up  the  ladder,  or  climbs  up  one  of  the  ropes,  and 
then  slides  down  the  parallels.  Just  think  of  the 
fun  !  I  used  to  think  it  was  the  greatest  bliss  in  life 
to  get  a  chance  to  imitate  my  older  brothers,  and 
slide  down  the  bannisters  of  our  staircase  when  I 
was  a  child.  But  it  was  a  forbidden  joy,  because  it 
was  so  dangerous,  and  because  I  was  a  girl.  Was  it 
a  part  of  its  charms  that  it  was  forbidden  ?  You  see 
the  advantages  of  being  born  into  the  present  genera 
tion.  Here  the  girls  are  not  only  permitted  but  in 
vited  to  slide  down  the  staircase,  only  under  the  name 
of  "inclined  parallels,"  and  the  children  are  encour- 


70  THE   NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

aged  to  make  sand-pies !  We  went  up  to  the  room 
for  the  Kindergarten,  which  looks  out  on  one  side 
upon  the  river,  and  the  other  way  you  can  look  down 
upon  the  playgrounds  and  see  the  mothers  looking 
on,  in  the  grassy  enclosure. 

In  the  Kindergarten  were  occupations  for  the  chil 
dren,  stringing  beads,  weaving  papers,  picture-books, 
etc.  And  down  in  the  enclosure  with  its  pretty 
hedges  of  shrubs  and  roses,  the  children  were  busy 
with  pretty  Kindergarten  work,  with  card-board  de 
signs,  that  they  mark  out  with  colored  worsteds,  all 
under  kindly  direction.  They  have  had  lovely  dona 
tions  of  roses,  so  that  there  is  everything  to  make 
them  enjoy  the  idea  of  a  real  summer,  such  as  you 
would  not  imagine  in  a  city's  crowded  streets. 

The  working-girls  are  to  come  later  in  the  after 
noon,  and  it  must  be  as  much  of  a  delight  for  them 
as  for  the  children.  The  gymnasium  is  admirably 
fitted  up,  the  apparatus  suggested  by  Dr.  Sargent  of 
Harvard.  I  could  n't  help  trying  myself  the  "  Giant 
Step "  that  we  used  to  have  in  our  gymnasium  at 
Astney,  when  four  ropes  are  attached  to  a  pole  with 
rings  at  the  ends,  the  rings  a  little  higher  than  the 
girls'  heads.  Four  girls  reach  up  to  the  rings,  and 
holding  on  to  them  they  run  about  the  pole.  When 
they  lift  their  feet  from  the  ground  they  are  carried 
along  by  the  momentum,  round  and  round  with  a  de 
lightful  motion,  which  must  be  helped  from  time  to 
time  by  a  little  touch  of  the  ground  with  one  foot, 
and  again  on  they  go.  The  motion  seems  so  like 
flying  and  is  so  charming  that  if  Professor  Langley 
can  invent  a  method  of  flying  for  the  human  race 
that  is  equal  to  it,  I  hope  he  will  succeed. 

The  tilting-bridges  are  much  like  foot-bridges  over 
small  streams.  They  have  close  fences  on  either 
side,  and  are  suspended  in  the  middle.  A  party  of 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  71 

girls  get  on  the  bridge  and  stamp  up  and  down,  the 
girls  on  one  side  stamping  more  than  the  others.  Up 
and  down  they  go,  or,  like  an  old-fashioned  tilt,  they 
see-saw  up  and  down,  with  a  friend  at  each  end  to 
start  them.  I  hope  to  have  the  privilege  of  going 
in  for  fun  and  exercise  after  I  am  really  at  work,  so 
that  I  can  feel  that  I  deserve  it. 

But  I  am  writing  too  much  without  leaving  space 
to  tell  you  of  my  excitement  of  last  week  in  really 
going  out  to  see  the  White  Squadron.  Anna  Davis 
with  some  friends  had  an  invitation  to  go  out  to  one 
of  the  vessels  to  see  the  shooting  in  the  harbor  the 
other  afternoon,  and  they  were  kind  enough  to  ask 
me  to  go  too.  I  had  to  hurry  off  after  my  morning's 
class,  and  met  them  at  the  Parker  House.  Here 
were  some  young  men  who  were  going  to  row  us  out 
from  one  of  the  wharves,  among  them  Mr.  Brand  and 
Mr.  Jones,  Harvard  men,  who  were  my  partners  on 
Class  Day.  I  have  happened  to  meet  Mr.  Brand 
since,  and  we  all  seemed  to  know  each  other  after 
lunching  together,  and  went  down  through  the  be 
wildering  streets  to  a  real  wharf,  and  looked  out 
upon  the  exciting,  mixed-up  scene.  I  was  frightened 
to  death  at  being  got  down  into  the  boat,  but  I  suc 
ceeded  in  not  disgracing  myself  by  tumbling  in  be 
tween  the  wharf  and  the  boat.  But  just  as  we  were 
getting  off,  I  looked  back  at  a  sailboat  that  seemed  in 
our  way,  waiting  for  a  party  just  coming  down  the 
steps  to  go  on  board,  and  among  them  was  my  un 
known  friend  of  Class  Day. 

He  seemed  to  have  the  direction  of  the  party,  for 
he  motioned  to  the  boatmen  to  keep  out  of  our  way, 
and  we  passed  on ;  but  his  sailboat  was  near  us  all  the 
way  out  to  our  ship.  There  was  plenty  to  attract  my 
attention.  —  all  those  little  boats  bobbing  about,  the 
row  of  great  ships  beyond,  and  every  kind  of  steam  tug 


72  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

and  excursion  steamer,  whistling  and  puffing  about 
us ;  but  the  sailboat  kept  along  near  us,  and  we  saw 
it  must  be  aiming  for  the  same  ship  to  which  we  were 
bound.  For  it  appeared  that  Mr.  Brand  had  met  this 
same  young  man  at  Cambridge,  Class  Day,  and  he  re 
gretted  much  that  he  had  not  "caught  his  name" 
there,  as  he  had  been  wanting  to  hunt  him  up  since  ; 
for  he  understood  then  that  he  was  a  stranger  in 
Boston,  and  that  he  had  come  to  join  some  large  firm 
just  established  in  Boston ;  and  he  would  like  to  do 
something  for  him  if  he  could.  So  we  bobbed  in  and 
out  among  the  boats,  but  we  kept  well  ahead  with  our 
oarsmen,  for  their  sails  did  not  seem  to  help  them 
much ;  and  I  had  no  chance  to  bow  to  him  till  I  hap 
pened  to  turn  round  on  the  very  steps  of  the  high 
ladder  going  up  the  ship's  side.  I  looked  off  over 
the  side  of  the  ship  the  minute  I  reached  the  landing- 
place,  the  sailors  making  it  all  very  easy,  and  then  I 
saw  such  a  confusing  scene. 

One  of  the  ladies  of  our  party  —  I  am  happy  to  say 
I  did  n't  know  anything  about  her  —  let  her  shawl 
fall  into  the  water.  It  was  very  clumsy  of  her,  be 
cause  we  had  so  much  help  from  the  sailors  going 
up.  One  of  the  men  in  the  sailboat  reached  out  for 
the  shawl  and  got  it,  but  somehow  caught  his  foot 
in  something  and  went  over  the  side  of  the  boat. 
I  believe  they  were  taking  in  the  mast,  and  the 
boatman,  as  he  went  down,  seized  hold  of  one  of 
the  other  men ;  they  both  fell  together,  and  then 
the  boat  turned  over.  I  hardly  dared  to  look  to  see 
what  happened  next,  but  the  ship's  sailors  somehow 
went  to  the  rescue,  and  Mr.  Brand  tried  to  help, 
and  everybody  said  everything  was  all  right,  and 
more  boats  were  coming  up,  and  more  people  mount 
ing  the  ladder,  and  we  were  hurried  away,  and  I 
waited  full  of  anxiety  till  Mr.  Brand  appeared,  but 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  73 

without  our  Class  Day  friend.  He  did.  not  have 
much  to  tell  except  that  he  saw  that  the  boat  got 
righted,  and  that  our  friend  was  on  board  the  boat 
all  right;  but  he  believed  they  were  going  back,  or 
somewhere  else.  He  had  to  hurry  up  the  ladder 
himself  or  he  should  lose  his  own  chance. 

I  felt  dreadfully  about  it,  and  I  made  Mr.  Brand 
go  back  with  me  to  look  off  in  that  direction;  but 
somehow  we  had  swerved  round,  or  I  had  lost  my 
bearings,  for  I  could  see  nothing  of  the  sailboat. 
Mr.  Brand  tried  to  quiet  me,  and  declared  they  were 
all  out  of  danger.  But  I  silently  agreed  with  him 
when  he  declared  that  he  was  disappointed  that  he 
had  lost  the  chance  of  talking  with  him  all  the 
afternoon  and  evening  and  making  his  acquaintance. 
I  did  have  time  to  see  that  he  no  longer  wore  any 
bandage,  and  he  looked  very  handsome  and  manly 
as  he  stood  giving  his  directions  to  the  men.  I 
feel  so  provoked  that  it  was  one  of  our  party  who 
dropped  the  shawl.  You  can 't  think  (can  you  ?) 
that  he  imagines  that  it  was  my  shawl,  and  that  I 
was  so  foolish  as  to  drop  it,  when  I  never  take  a 
shawl  with  me  ?  I  am  leaving  no  space  to  tell  you 
of  the  grand  show  of  the  afternoon,  which  indeed 
was  fine.  Such  a  contrast,  all  this  warlike,  magnifi 
cent  show,  to  the  promise  of  peace  we  had  pictured  to 
us  at  the  grand  Fourth  of  July  oration.  For  I  have 
not  told  you  how  Anna  Davis  and  I  did  succeed  in 
going  to  the  Boston  Theatre  to  hear  Mr.  Quincy,  and 
his  oration  was  splendid.  And  when  I  saw  all  this 
brilliant  show  on  the  water  that  afternoon,  I  thought 
to  myself,  perhaps  that  is  the  way  it  is  to  be ;  we 
shall  have  all  this  firing  of  guns,  and  smoke  of  cannon 
and  great  war-ships  just  for  the  show,  and  we  shall 
go  out  to  see  it  peacefully,  because  there  is  "  war  no 
more." 


74  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTEE   SEVENTH. 

IX. 

HARRY    TO    HIS    MOTHER. 

NORTH  NESS,  R.  I.,  July  20,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  I  write  this  in  the  old  Nar- 
ragansett  country,  within  a  mile  of  the  old  Indian  fort 
where  your  grandmother's  grandfather  was  killed  in 
the  attack,  as  it  says  on  the  old  matchlock  over  the 
dining-room  door.  You  might  mention  it  at  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Indian  Association  of  Windham 
County  ;  and  you  might  add  that  there  are  not  so 
many  people  in  the  ISTarragansett  country  proper  as 
there  were  then.  I  mean  that  east  and  west  of  here 
is  a  strip  of  woods  and  ponds  which  is  only  fit  for  little 
farms,  and  from  which  the  people  have  moved  to 
factories  and  to  the  West. 

I  felt  badly  when  I  got  THE  COMMONWEALTH,  be 
cause  I  was  afraid  again  that  you  might  be  anxious. 
They  cut  off  the  letter  in  that  short  metre  way,  just  as 
I  was  swimming  in  the  bay  by  the  side  of  one  of  the 
white  ships.  But  I  said  to  myself :  "  Surely  mother 
is  not  a  fool  —  and  she  will  know  that  if  I  was 
drowned  I  could  not  have  written  that  letter."  If  I 
had  seen  it  sooner  I  would  have  written  at  once.  As 
it  was,  the  firm  sent  me  up  into  New  Brunswick,  to 
inquire  about  our  contract  for  wild  cherry,  and  I  never 
saw  the  letter  till  Saturday  night.  I  got  into  town 
Saturday  morning,  and  the  newsman  tried  to  sell  me 
THE  COMMO>TWEALTH  with  the  woman's  letter.  But 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  75 

I  will  not  read  her  letters.  I  should  only  be  out  five 
cents  if  I  bought  it  and  I  had  rather  save  that  for 
Christinas  presents. 

So  I  begin  by  saying  that  I  was  not  drowned,  but 
was  badly  wet.  So  was  the  polar  bear,  and  so,  I  am 
glad  to  say,  was  the  stupid  land-lubber  whose  clumsi 
ness  caused  the  accident.  We  all  scrambled  iip  from 
the  bottom  as  quick  as  we  could,  and  there  were  only 
too  many  to  help.  But  I  was  at  the  stern  of  our  boat 
and  I  got  in  first.  She  never  really  capsized,  though 
she  took  in  a  hogshead  of  water.  I  pulled  myself  in, 
and  had  nobody  to  thank,  but  I  was  thankful  for  the 
memories  of  old  days  when  we  used  to  go  swimming 
in  Gogmagog,  and  the  first  fellow  got  into  the  boat 
that  way  and  wiped  himself  on  the  shirts  of  the 
others.  Then  I  hauled  the  others  in,  with,  I  say, 
profuse  offers  of  help  all  round.  The  officer  in  com 
mand  up  above  us  sent  down  a  young  fellow,  who  was 
perhaps  a  midshipr/uYe,  to  ask  us  to  come  on  board, 
and  to  offer  the  hospitalities  of  the  engine-room  to 
dry  ourselves.  But  I  was  not  going  to  show  myself 
in  that  ducked-dog  condition  to  all  those  ladies.  So  I 
thanked  the  little  man,  and  told  our  boatman,  who 
had  kept  tolerably  good-natured  in  all  this  nonsense, 
to  get  away  from  the  ladder  as  quick  as  he  could,  and 
we  began  to  bail  out ;  fortunately  he  had  a  couple  of 
pails.  Then  in  our  ducked-dog  condition  we  went 
back  to  the  wharf  in  Boston,  not  in  such  good  spirits 
as  we  started  in,  I  can  assure  you.  To  you  I  will  say 
privately  that  I  looked  over  my  shoulder  to  see  my 
little  parcel  of  clothes-pins  floating  off  on  top  of  a  wave. 
I  was  not  going  to  claim  any  connection  with  them, 
and  I  suppose  they  are  in  Palos  or  the  island  of 
Hawaii  before  now. 

Dear  mother,  do  not  mind  where  these  people  stop 
the  letters.  Eecollect  that  if  I  am  dead  or  unconscious, 


76  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

I  will  certainly  telegraph  you,  and  you  must  not  give 
yourself  any  anxiety  because  the  letter  does  not  hap 
pen  to  be  signed  by  my  name. 

You  will  not  understand  why  I  should  be  in  the 
Narragansett  country.  All  Carruthers's  people  come 
down  here  in  summer.  They  have  a  nice  place,  in  full 
sight  of  the  sea,  though  it  is  a  couple  of  miles  off. 
And  "  sea  "  here  means  the  Atlantic  Ocean  ;  for  there 
is  a  little  stretch,  as  you  have  perhaps  never  observed, 
between  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island  and  Narragan- 
sett  Bay,  where  nothing  but  Block  Island  breaks  the 
sight  and  force  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  So  Carruthers 
made  me  come  down  here  on  the  one  o'clock  train 
Saturday,  and  I  have  been  spending  Sunday  here.  I 
shall  have  a  great  deal  to  tell  you  about  the  place,  for 
Mrs.  Carruthers,  who  is  very  nice,  has  made  me  prom 
ise  to  come  down  again.  But  now  I  have  only  spent 
Sunday  here,  and  I  foresee  that  this  letter  will  be  so 
long  that  I  had  better  not  go  into  accounts  of  the 
Narragansett  country,  or  of  my  sea-bathing,  or  of  the 
people  who  come  down  to  the  beach,  or  of  our  ex 
periences  with  ray's  eggs,  or  of  the  museum  that  I 
have  made  of  sea-urchins  and  other  wonders  for 
Florence.  I  have  been  writing  this  with  a  pencil, 
while  we  were  waiting  for  the  train  to  come.  It  is 
announced  that  it  is  now  in  sight,  which  means  four 
miles  off,  and  I  will  finish  .this  letter  at  the  office. 

If  the  engine  had  not  come,  I  should  have  told  you 
that  this  is  the  way  that  most  of  the  Boston  people 
live  whom  I  see  the  most.  It  is  all  nonsense  to  say 
that  Boston  is  all  out  of  town,  for,  as  I  told  you,  on 
Sundays  the  Common  is  as  full  as  any  beehive  is,  and 
I  should  think,  from  what  I  see  in  the  streets,  that 
there  are  just  as  many  people  in  Boston  in  the  day 
time  as  there  ever  were.  But  the  railroad  people 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  77 

would  tell  you  that  a  great  many  more  people  go  out 
of  town  in  the  last  hours  of  the  day  than  come  in,  and 
on  the  other  hand  you  have  only  to  come  in  on  a 
morning  train  to  see  that  a  great  many  more  people 
come  in  than  go  out.  This  means  that  Boston  is  a 
day-time  city  in  summer ;  and  that  accounts  for  a 
great  many  queer  things.  The  Boston  men  say,  for 
instance,  that  they  do  not  recognize  nearly  as  many 
people  in  the  streets  as  they  do  in  winter.  And  even 
supposing  that  you  live,  as  I  and  all  our  clerks  here 
live  through  the  week,  the  chances  are  that  you  go 
out  of  town  on  Saturday,  spend  your  Sunday,  and  come 
in,  perhaps  a  little  late,  on  Monday  morning.  They 
made  no  fuss  at  the  office  about  my  being  late,  and,  as 
I  said  once  before,  I  believe  everybody  was  so  late 
himself  that  he  supposed  that  I  had  been  very  early 
and  had  gone  out  upon  some  errand.  I  did  not  give 
myself  away. 

You  must  not  feel  sad  about  it,  but  I  am  getting  in 
love  with  the  freedom  of  this  sort  of  life,  and  I  shall 
be  as  bad  a  cockney  as  any  of  them  are  before  long. 
Perhaps  I  shall  be  rather  more  so.  I  heard  old  Mr. 
Champernoon  say  the  other  day  —  he  is  one  of  our 
directors,  a  man  who  likes  to  draw  his  money  from 
our  investment,  and  takes  the  privilege  of  coming 
around  and  talking  for  an  hour  in  the  office  every 
morning,  while  he  does  not  understand  so  much  of 
the  business  as  any  fly  that  crawls  on  the  window  — 
I  say  I  heard  old  Mr.  Champernoon  say  that  you 
could  distinguish  between  the  two  lines  of  rich  men 
in  Boston,  —  those  who  were  brought  up  in  the  coun 
try  and  those  who  were  not.  He  said  the  country 
boys  never  went  into  ornamental  farming ;  that  they 
had  had  enough  of  "  laying  stone  Avail"  to  serve  them 
for  their  life.  He  said  it  was  only  the  Boston  boy, 
who  had  grown  up  without  knowing  the  difference 


78  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

between  a  cow  and  a  sheep,  who  took,  in  later  life,  to 
the  elegancies  of  agriculture.  I  do  not  know  whether 
this  is  true.  But  I  do  know  that  already,  after  being 
here  a  month.  I  have  got  into  the  stream  so  far  that  I 
like  to  feel  at  the  beginning  of  the  week,  on  the  one 
hand,  that  before  the  week  is  over  I  shall  have  been 
in  Maine  or  Rhode  Island  or  the  Berkshire  moun 
tains,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  I  am  ignorant  to 
which  of  these  I  shall  go.  You  see  I  do  not  feel  as 
if  I  lived  in  Boston ;  I  feel  as  if  I  lived  in  a  circle  of 
two  or  three  hundred  miles  radius,  of  which  Boston  is 
the  centre. 

And  I  wholly  understand,  though  I  have  been  here 
so  short  a  time,  the  feeling  that  the  whole  belongs  to 
me,  or,  if  you  please,  that  I  belong  to  it.  I  see  en 
tirely  why  cockneys  are  cockneys,  and  I  can  see  why 
men  of  letters  and  poets  come  to  get  the  sort  of  en 
thusiasm  about  streets  and  buildings  that  you  and  I 
have  for  ponds  and  woods  and  hills.  Miss  Carruthers, 
where  I  was  staying  yesterday,  —  she  is  a  very  nice 
girl,  —  showed  me  half  a  dozen  pretty  poems  of  this 
Miss  Levy,  the  Jewish  girl  who  died  of  a  broken 
heart,  about  this  very  thing. 

"  The  human  tale  of  love  and  hate, 
The  city  pageant,  early  and  late, 
Unfolds  itself,  rolls  by,  to  be 
A  pleasure  deep  and  delicate. 
An  omnibus  suffices  me." 

When  you  come  down  to  make  me  your  winter  visit  I 
shall  make  you  understand  this. 

For  the  present,  however,  —  you  see  I  am  writing 
this  at  the  office  on  Wednesday,  —  I  am  no  longer  a 
cockney.  How  long  my  change  of  life  will  last  I  do 
not  know,  but  when  I  came  home  on  Monday,  poor 
Mrs.  Metcalf  came  to  me  in  a  good  deal  of  trouble  ;  I 
think  she  had  been  crying.  It  proved  that  all  her 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  79 

boarders  had  deserted  her,  excepting  me.  Some  had 
acted  in  good  faith  and  some  in  bad  faith,  but  there 
she  was,  with  that  big  house  and  I  do  not  know  how 
many  servants,  and  I  was  the  only  person  to  whom 
she  was  bound  —  and  bound  she  was  —  to  keep  me  in 
fishballs  and  pork  and  coffee  and  bread  and  butter  and 
whatever  I  might  choose  to  have  at  night.  She 
wanted  to  know  if  I  could,  without  inconvenience, 
make  some  other  arrangement  for  the  next  six  weeks, 
and  at  the  same  time  if  she  might  rely  on  me  in. 
September.  You  know  I  have  come  to  like  her,  — 
whether  you  know  it  or  not,  I  have  come  to  like  her, 
this  hard-fortuned  woman,  very  much ;  and  although 
it  was  rather  a  nuisance  to  be  told  that  my  permanent 
arrangement,  of  which  I  believe  I  bragged  to  you,  had 
broken  down  in  a  month,  I  of  course  said  I  would  do 
what  she  wanted  me  to. 

"Too  convincing,  dangerously  dear, 
In  woman's  eye  the  inexorable  tear," 

whether  it  be  the  tear  of  a  pretty  girl  of  nineteen,  or 
of  the  keeper  of  a  boarding-house  who  has  passed  her 
forty-fifth  year.  What  I  did  will  amuse  you.  I  had 
an  errand  to  Cambridge,  about  an  order  they  have  or 
have  not  given  us  there,  and  I  went  out  there.  As  I 
went  out,  there  were  some  people  in  the  street-car 
who  were  evidently  going  to  the  Summer  School.  The 
Summer  School  is  something  I  had  heard  of  before, 
but  I  did  not  know  what  it  was.  It  seems  that  they 
have  run  the  long  vacation  business  to  death  at  Har 
vard.  It  seems  that  some  of  the  professors  and 
teachers,  at  least,  want  to  do  something  in  their  four 
empty  months,  and  they  have  fallen  back  to  the  law 
of  the  instrument  and  opened  what  they  call  a  Sum 
mer  School.  You  can  go  there  and  study  with  all  the 
college  advantages  and  all  the  other  things,  and 


80  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND   LUCY. 

though  I  believe  they  do  not  give  yon  a  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Laws  at  the  end  of  the  summer,  you  have  a 
sort  of  feeling  that  you  have  studied  with  the  best 
men  there  are,  and  with  a  good  many  of  the  Cam 
bridge  advantages.  Now  I  do  not  think  I  shall  study 
much  this  summer,  though  I  might,  for  all  the  busi 
ness  our  "  shebang  "  is  doing  or  is  likely  to  do.  But, 
anyway,  the  thought  struck  me  that,  as  I  was  to  be 
turned  loose,  I  might  as  well  enter  as  a  student  in  the 
Summer  School  for  something.  At  any  rate  I  should 
find  boarding-house  keepers  in  Cambridge  who  did  not 
shut  up  at  forty-eight  hours'  warning,  while  I  should 
be  quite  as  near  my  business  as  I  was  at  Mrs.  Met- 
calf's.  So  I  have  taken  a  room,  exactly  as  if  I  were  a 
sophomore  or  a  junior,  at  Mrs.  Gorham's  house,  and 
now  you  will  please  to  regard  me  as  a  member  of  the 
University.  You  had  better  regard  me  so,  for  nobody 
else  will.  I  am  not  a  member  of  the  University  any 
more  than  you  are.  My  name  will  appear  upon  none 
of  its  catalogues,  for  they  are  quite  too  grand  for  that. 
But  all  the  same  I  can  say,  when  I  am  ninety  years 
old,  "When  I  was  a  student  at  Cambridge,"  and 
people  will  think  that  I  am  a  Doctor  of  Laws. 

After  I  had  got  through  with  the  man,  who,  as  it 
proved,  had  not  given  us  any  order  at  all  (but  may, 
perhaps),  I  went  down  to  the  office  of  the  secretary, 
or  whatever  he  is  called,  to  see  on  what  terms  I  could 
enter  the  Summer  School.  It  is  a  free-and-easy,  go-as- 
you-please  sort  of  institution  ;  in  fact,  it  is  not  an  in 
stitution  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word.  But  I 
found  out  that,  within  hours  that  were  convenient  to 
me,  I  could  fall  in  with  a  French  class,  which  will 
anyway  improve  my  conversation  from  the  Stratford- 
atte-Bowe  idiom  in  which  I  have  talked  till  now ;  and 
possibly  I  may  enter  also  for  botany,  or  for  something 
£lse  of  which  I  know  nothing,  and  should  like  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  81 

know  something.  Of  this  I  will  tell  you  in  another 
letter. 

I  came  in  on  the  electric  car.  The  electric  system 
runs  perhaps  more  smoothly  at  Cambridge  than  any 
where  else,  principally  for  the  reason  that  on  the  long 
bridge  no  one  stops  the  car,  unless  indeed  it  overtakes 
him.  They  get  one  good  run  at  their  full  speed.  I 
got  off  as  we  came  into  town,  because  I  wanted  to  see 
the  open-air  gymnasiu^n,  which  I  had  never  seen.  It  is 
really  first-rate,  and  I  shall  take  a  great  deal  of  satis 
faction  in  it ;  for  I  can  leave  the  office  early  and  take 
as  much  exercise  there  as  I  want  on  my  way  out.  Of 
course,  some  of  these  melting  days  a  person  does  not 
want  to  use  the  machinery  of  a  gymnasium.  But, 
generally  speaking,  we  get  an  east  wind  in  the  after 
noon,  and  between  five  and  seven  o'clock  it  is  not 
melting  weather.  Anyway,  here  is  a  charming  place 
to  sit  and  see  the  water  and  the  ships  and  the  fellows 
exercising.  There  is  a  gymnasium  for  girls  under 
cover.  That  is  not  so  big  as  the  gymnasium  for  men, 
I  believe.  There  is  somebody  who  directs  you  if  you 
want ;  but  I  never  wanted  to  be  directed  in  a  gymna 
sium.  I  always  take  up  the  plan  of  going  as  you 
please. 

Dear  mother,  I  knew  it  would  please  you,  and  it 
brought  back  the  memory  of  old  Wednesday  evenings 
at  Atherton,  if  I  would  go  to  the  weekly  prayer-meeting. 
I  happened  to  see  a  sign,  as  I  passed  a  church  vestry, 
that  this  was  the  evening  of  the  meeting,  and  I  went 
in.  But  I  cannot  give  you  a  very  encouraging  ac 
count  of  what  happened.  I  was  there,  and,  as  our  old 
story  used  to  say,  "a  little  girl  was  there."  Then 
a  young  man  and  his  sweetheart  or  sister  came  in,  and 
we  were  all.  I  said  to  him,  "It  is  a  hot  day."  He 
said,  "  Yes,  it  is  a  hot  day."  Then  the  girl  who  was 
with  him  asked  him  if  he  worked  there.  He  said  he 


82  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

did  not  work  there  regularly,  but  sometimes  when 
they  wanted  somebody  to  do  something  he  came 
round  and  lent  a  hand.  Then  the  little  girl  went  to 
the  door  and  went  out.  Then  the  other  two  went  to 
the  door  and  went  out.  Then  I  went  out.  But  I  will 
hope,  dear  mother,  that  we  were  all  better  for  having 
rested  ourselves  for  fifteen  minutes  in  a  place  where, 
at  least,  we  might  have  had  some  serious  associations. 
For  me,  after  this  failure,  I  walked  on,  and  hav 
ing  picked  up  my  supper  at  the  Providence  Station 
eating-room,  where  I  am  rather  fond  of  going,  I  spent 
my  evening  in  the  Public  Library  reading-room.  Now 
you  may  say  what  you  choose,  this  is  a  luxury  of  city 
life.  I  could  not  have  had  it  unless  I  were  in  a  place 
where  there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  to 
gether.  Those  people,  or  the  leaders  of  those  people, 
have  provided  for  me  a  resource  which  no  gentleman 
in  this  country,  I  do  not  care  what  his  income  is,  has 
at  his  command.  I  can  go  in  there,  and  I  can  call  for 
and  can  read  any  one  of  two  or  three  hundred  of  the 
best  periodicals  in  the  world.  Or  I  have,  waiting  for 
me,  the  book  which  I  have  said  in  the  course  of  the 
day  I  should  want  to  read  in  the  evening.  Just  at 
this  moment,  something  that  Carruthers  had  said 
about  a  yacht  voyage  in  the  Mediterranean  had  made 
me  stop  in  the  afternoon  and  order  that  Freeman's 
"  Sicily  "  should  be  reserved  for  me.  I  found  that, 
therefore,  lying  on  the  attendant's  desk,  and  I  spent 
the  evening  in  turning  it  over.  Sometime  I  will  tell 
you  some  of  the  things  I  found  in  it.  I  also  looked 
at  Life,  and  Punch,  and  the  London  Spectator,  and 
the  French  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes.  It  never  seems 
to  me  to  be  hot  in  the  Public  Library  ;  at  least,  I  have 
never  found  it  so ;  and  there  I  sat,  with  say  a  hun 
dred  other  young  fellows,  Avho  had  heads  on  their 
shoulders  and  wanted  to  use  this  opportunity.  There 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  83 

were  half  as  many  women,  perhaps,  in  the  smaller 
room  on  the  other  side  of  the  hall.  They  are  at  work 
now  on  a  new  building,  and  before  the  century  is  over 
I  suppose  they  will  move  in  there ;  but  this  is  good 
enough  for  me. 

I  ought  to  tell  you  about  the  fortunes  of  my  Rus 
sian  friend.  The  night  before  I  met  him  he  had 
spent  at  the  Hawkins  Street  Lodge  for  Wayfarers. 
This  is  the  place  where,  if  you  recollect,  Howells's  boy 
went,  and  sawed  wood  for  an  hour  to  pay  for  his 
supper  and  lodging  and  breakfast.  I  fancy  the  Rus 
sian  Bear  had  often  enough  at  home  done  three  times 
as  much  work  as  that  for  half  as  much  pay.  Anyway, 
he  did  not  grumble  either  about  the  breakfast  or  the 
supper  or  the  lodging.  But  they  won't  let  a  fellow  do 
that  every  night.  If  they  did  I  am  disposed  to  think 
they  would  be  overrun.  You  must  be  palpably  thrown 
out  of  a  home,  and  must  not  be  sponging  on  the  ad 
ministration.  Still  they  say  that  thing  earned  money 
for  the  city,  and  that  the  city  treasurer  fainted  away 
when  somebody  brought  him  in  some  money  which  he 
did  not  expect,  and  said  "it  was  earned  in  Hawkins 
Street,  and  was  the  surplus  of  what  they  had  sold 
their  wood  for  after  it  was  sawed,  over  what  it  cost 
them  to  buy  it.  I  did  not  want  to  have  the  Bear  go 
back  to  Hawkins  Street  after  I  had  made  his  acquain 
tance,  and  Carruthers  and  I,  and  one  or  two  of  the 
other  young  fellows,  interested  ourselves  in  seeing 
that  he  should  get  something  to  do  somewhere.  Now 
do  you  know  it  proves,  though  he  does  say  "Bridget" 
where  he  should  say  "bright,"  —  so  that  he,  is  not  in 
the  least  understood  when  he  speaks  to  anybody,  — 
that  he  writes  the  best  hand,  literally,  that  you  ever 
saw  in  the  world.  You  see  this  is  because  he  learned 
to  write  Russian  and  then  had  to  write  English  as  a 
separate  accomplishment.  He  therefore  excels  in  this 


84  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

thing,  as  we  very  often  excel  in  our  accomplishments, 
while  we  let  our  every-day  duties  run  in  an  every-day 
sort  of  a  way.  With  the  Bear,  writing  is  an  elegant 
accomplishment,  and  when  he  makes  a  letter  A  he 
thinks  of  the  letter  A,  and  does  it  with  all  his  heart 
and  soul  and  mind  and  strength.  Now  I  had  my  eyes 
open  and  it  proved  that,  after  a  few  days,  it  was  neces 
sary  for  us  to  send  off  to  the  stockholders,  and  indeed 
to  a  lot  of  other  people,  some  thousands  of  circulars. 
We  have  not  yet  got  all  the  clerical  force  moved  here 
from  .Leeds.  I  am  sure  I  did  not  want  to  direct  those 
circulars,  and  I  explained  to  the  chief  here  that  we 
had  not  force  enough  for  it,  and  got  him  to  say  that  I 
might  employ  anybody  I  chose.  So  I  put  the  Bear  on 
the  circulars ;  and  now  people  all  over  the  country  are 
receiving  these  marvellous  specimens  of  handwriting ; 
and,  what  is  more  to  the  point,  the  Bear  is  receiving 
five  dollars  a  week  for  directing  them,  and  Hawkins 
Street  has  one  person  less.  Whether  I  shall  ever 
teach  him  to  say  "  thought "  and  not  to  say  "  tho-ugt," 
or  to  say  "  where "  and  not  to  say  "  whee-ree,"  I  do 
not  know.  Thus  far  he  uses  the  little  tablet,  and 
writes  his  very  funny  English  upon  it  in  his  very  per 
fect  hand,  and  we  write  our  answers.  I  believe,  after 
all,  we  shall  send  him  up  to  New  Padua,  or  some  of 
the  normal  schools,  where  I  dare  say  they  will  find 
something  for  him  to  do. 

Now  I  will  go  back  to  my  outing  in  the  Narragan- 
sett  country,  and  then  tell  of  last  night's  dissipation, 
if  these  parsimonious  people  will  give  me  what  they 
call  lines  enough.  Saturday  afternoon,  we  had  a 
splendid  sea-bath  at  North  Ness  just  before  we  dined, 
having  dinner  put  late  on  purpose.  I  had  been  in  the 
sea  before,  for  I  can  go  out  for  five  cents  to  South 
Boston  and  swim  in  the  sea  at  a  public  bathing-house  ; 
and  when  the  tide  is  right  I  do  this  three  or  four 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  85 

times  a  week.  But  that  is  nothing  to  the  joy  of  swim 
ming  through  these  ocean  breakers  and  lying  on  what 
I  am  tempted  to  call  the  fresh  salt  water.  The  feeling 
that  there  is  nothing  between  you  and  the  West  Indies 
has  perhaps  something  to  do  with  it ;  the  infinite  power 
and  kindness  of  nature  has  a  great  deal  more  to  do 
with  it.  Carruthers  had  to  warn  me  that  I  was  stay 
ing  in  the  water  too  long.  Then  the  exhilaration  and 
joy  of  life,  after  it  is  over,  is  something  which  does 
not  come  too  often  to  a  man.  The  only  thing  to  com 
pare  to  it  is  the  joy  in  riding  on  a  fine  horse,  when  you 
love  him  and  he  loves  you.  Then  Sunday  we  had  a 
pleasant,  homelike  service,  where  three  or  four  of  the 
neighbors'  families  came  in.  Mr.  Carruthers  himself 
led  the  prayers,  we  read  the  Psalms  alternately  with 
him,  he  read  the  Scripture,  and  then  read  something 
which  served  for  a  sermon,  which  he  had  found  in 
Littell's  Living  Age,  —  a  very  nice,  homelike  service  it 
was.  And  in  the  afternoon  we  all  went,  —  dear  mother, 
you  would  have  said  it  was  to  Central  America,  —  into 
a  great  grove  of  rhododendrons.  I  did  not  know  that, 
there  was  any  thing  so  tropical  in  New  England.  No, 
you  must  not  tell  me  about  laurel ;  I  know  all  about 
laurel.  Here  you  go  into  great  covered  ways  of  this 
magnificent  tropical  plant.  Don't  you  know,  I  tried 
to  describe  to  you  Mr.  Hunnewell's,  out  at  his  place. 
But  here  is  a  grove  of  rhododendrons  as  big  as  his  whole 
place  is  altogether.  The  trees  of  it,  for  they  are  trees, 
grow  twenty  and  thirty  feet  high,  and  for  what  I  know, 
more.  This  has  been  a  particularly  favorable  winter 
for  it,  so  that  you  see  the  great  burning  bushes  of  it, 
crowded  with  clumps  of  blossoms  ;  and  when  you  think 
you  have  seen  the  very  best  you  stumble  on  another 
opening  where  they  are  in  other  tints  and  even  more 
luxuriant.  At  first  I  had  a  feeling  that  I  was  walking 
through  avenues  of  it,  as  if  it  only  grew  by  the  side 


86  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

of  the  wood-paths.  But  soon  enough  I  found  that 
here  is  one  great  tangle  of  hundreds  of  acres  of  it, 
only  it  is  impervious  in  most  places,  and  we  can  only 
go  where  the  foot  of  man  and  the  hand  of  man  have 
gone  before.  Some  of  us  had  gone  in  boats,  some  had 
gone  in  wagons ;  it  was  a  sort  of  ceremony  to  visit  the 
rhododendron  grove  with  the  nicest  people  who  could 
be  brought  together,  and  this  was  the  great  pageant  of 
the  year.  I  put  up  three  or  four  heads  in  a  box  and 
sent  them  to  you  by  Uncle  Sam's  kindness.  You 
knew  they  came  from  me,  but  you  wondered  if  such 
things  grew  on  Boston  Common. 

Now  for  my  dissipation.  I  am  not  so  much  of  a 
cockney  yet  but  that  I  could  see  the  humor  of  it. 
Understand,  then,  that  this  dear,  nice  gentleman,  of 
whom  I  spoke  as  being  the  director  who  likes  to  look 
in  at  the  office,  is,  for  his  sins,  spending  the  summer 
in  Boston.  He  says  forty  years  ago  everybody  in  his 
social  condition  did  so,  or  almost  everybody.  But  now 
you  may  go  through  Marlboro  Street  or  Beacon 
Street,  and  three  houses  out  of  four  are  actually 
boarded  up,  so  that  burglars  may  not  be  tempted  to  go 
in ;  and  if  a  policeman  meets  a  man  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  with  a  carpet-bag  in  his  hand,  he  ar 
rests  him  because  he  knows  he  is  a  burglar.  But  my 
Mr.  Champernoon  is  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  some 
members  of  his  family  from  England,  so  his  house  is 
open  still.  He  talks  about  it  a  great  deal,  as  you  or  I 
might  talk  of  having  a  floating-house  in  the  middle  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  as  if  it  were  an  entire  surprise  to 
him  to  find  that  Boston  is  habitable  in  July.  What 
really  has  an  element  of  humor  in  it  is  that  last  night 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Champernoon  had  to  give  a  party.  I 
believe  they  really  approached  the  occasion  wondering 
whether  the  roof  would  not  fall  in  upon  their  heads, 
so  utterly  impossible  did  it  seem  to  carry  it  through. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  87 

But  there  had  arrived  from  the  South  some  very 
grand  people  who  were  classmates  of  his  in  college, 
and  who,  with  that  droll  Southern  ignorance  of  the 
North,  coining  on  to  see  their  old  friends,  had  come  of 
course  to  Boston,  supposing  that  they  should  find  their 
old  friends  there.  Mr.  Rutledge  had  called  on  Mr. 
Champernoon.  Mr.  Champernoon  could  not  say  that 
he  was  at  the  Adirondacks  or  at  ISTahant  or  at  Bar 
Harbor,  because  he  was  not.  And  Mrs.  Champernoon 
had  been  over  to  the  Brunswick  to  see  Mrs.  Rutledge 
and  the  young  ladies  and  nieces  and  all  the  rest.  And 
then,  sweet  dear  soul,  she  thought  she  must  give  an 
evening  party  for  them,  though,  as  I  say,  the  thing 
seemed  as  impossible  as  for  her  to  make  the  State 
House  waltz  Avith  Faneuil  Hall.  To  this  evening  party 
I  was  bidden,  a  little  on  the  principle  of  the  parable. 
That  is  to  say,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Champernoon  had  sent 
personal  notes  to  all  their  friends  who  lived  within  ten 
miles  of  Boston,  entreating  them  to  come  in.  And 
why  indeed  should  they  not  come  in,  as  easily  as  Bos 
ton  people  go  out  in  the  winter  to  Arlington,  to  Water- 
town,  to  Brookline,  or  to  Milton,  when  there  are 
parties  there  ? 

But  I  think  Mr.  Champernoon  was  enough  a  man  of 
the  world  to  know  that  the  Rutledges  would  never 
know  whom  they  met,  if  his  rooms  were  only  filled 
with  somebody.  He  certainly  judged  rightly  when  he 
thought  I  should  not  be  disinclined  to  see  a  handsome 
Boston  house  lighted  up  for  an  evening  party,  to  hear 
good  music  between  whiles,  and  would  even  conde 
scend  to  eat  a  nice  piece  of  salmon,  though  oysters 
were  not  in  season.  He  knows  Carruthers  well,  and 
of  course  he  had  seen  me  in  the  office.  So  he  came 
up  to  me  and  asked  me  if  I  would  not  come,  in  a 
perfectly  informal  wray,  to  his  house,  to  meet  some 
gentlemen  and  ladies  from  the  South;  and  I  gladly 


88  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

accepted.  I  went  with  Carruthers,  and  Carruthers  ex 
plained  to  me  that  we  Avent  a  good  deal  earlier  than 
we  should  have  gone  if  it  were  winter.  When  I  en 
tered  the  room,  it  seemed  to  me  probable  that  Carruth 
ers  would  be  the  only  person  in  it  whom  I  had  ever 
seen  before,  excepting  my  host.  I  certainly  did  not 
suppose  that  Mr.  Champernoon  meant  to  let  me  with 
draw  into  a  private  room  and  discuss  with  him  the 
materials  for  clothes-pins,  or  the  possibilities  of  mak 
ing  a  market  for  them  in  the  Antarctic  Ocean.  How 
ever,  I  went  in  for  luck,  as  I  always  do,  and  my  luck 
in  no  sort  failed  me.  Who  should  be  the  very  first 
person  I  saw,  but  the  Miss  Osborne  with  whom  I 
danced  at  Class  Day,  and  her  brother.  Of  course  they 
knew  I  was  a  stranger,  and  the  brother,  in  particular, 
took  care  that  I  should  not  feel  alone. 

As  for  Mrs.  Champernoon,  she  is  a  trump.  The  mo 
ment  she  heard  my  name  she  insisted  upon  it  that  she 
must  have  known  my  grandfather  or  his  grand-nephew 
or  somebody,  and  I  really  expected  to  hear  her  say 
that  she  went  to  Miss  Beecher's  school  with  you 
at  Hartford.  For,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  dear  Mother, 
I  have  heard  that  said  so  often  in  the  last  year  that  I 
begin  to  think  the  school  must  have  numbered  five 
thousand-  people.  As  to  the  Southern  ladies,  I  was 
presented  to  one  or  two  of  the  younger  of  them,  and 
found  them  very  good  fun.  They  were  bright  and 
wide-awake,  and  just  as  much  amused  and  surprised  at 
things  which  they  had  seen  between  Washington  and 
Boston  as  I  should  be  if  I  were  in  a  rice  plantation  or 
saw  a  cotton-gin  running.  We  kept  well  clear  of  poli 
tics,  and  I  believe  they  thought  I  should  vote  for  Jeff 
Davis  and  Grover  Cleveland,  if  they  were  put  up  on 
the  same  ticket  at  the  next  election.  There  was  a 
well-nigh  perfect  band  of  half  a  dozen  instruments,  in 
a  balcony  at  the  head  of  the  finest  staircase  that  you 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  89 

ever  saw.  There  were  fifty  pictures  in  the  house 
which  would  have  made  the  fortune  of  any  exhibition 
of  pictures  in  any  city.  There  were  so  few  people 
that  the  rooms  were  not  crowded,  and  there  was  no 
reason  why  I  and  Miss  Osborne,  or  I  and  Miss  Rutledge, 
should  not  walk  around  and  look  at  pictures  as  much 
as  we  wanted  to.  For  one,  I  was  not  ashamed  to  be 
seen  studying  Corot  or  Meissonier  with  somebody  who 
knew  a  great  deal  more  about  them  than  I  did,  as  Miss 
Osborne  did.  I  rather  think  she  paints  a  little  herself. 
From  the  way  in  which  little  knots  of  people  were 
glued  to  each  other,  I  could  guess  that  most  of  the 
people  in  that  house  were  quite  as  much  strangers  as 
I  was.  But  I  could  also  see  that  dear  Mrs.  Champer- 
noon's  spirits  rose  as  the  evening  ground  itself  along 
from  nine  to  ten  o'clock.  As  I  was  passing  her  with 
Miss  Osborne,  Mrs.  Champernoon  beckoned  her,  and 
asked  if  she  did  not  think  it  would  do  to  have  some 
dancing.  She  said  she  had  not  really  thought  of  it, 
there  would  be  so  few  people ;  but  there  was  the 
music  and  there  was  the  floor.  Of  course,  we  young 
people  did  not  object  to  that,  and  very  soon  the  band 
was  playing  some  lively  music,  and  half  a  dozen 
couples  of  us  were  waltzing.  Miss  Osborne  dances 
very  well,  and  after  a  minute  she  told  me  to  leave  her 
and  ask  Miss  Sarah  Rutledge  to  take  a  turn,  which  I 
did.  So  that  really  the  Champernoon  party  turned 
out  a  great  deal  better  than  they  or  anybody  else  ex 
pected.  The  thing  to  say  was  how  interesting  it  was 
to  have  a  dance  in  the  middle  of  July  ;  how  beautiful 
the  house  was,  which  was  easy  enough  to  say ;  and 
how  fortunate  it  was  that  one  found  one's  self  in  Bos 
ton  on  the  twenty-first  of  July,  as  if  the  only  probable 
place  to  be  were  the  middle  of  Greenland  or  a  punt 
in  the  harbor  of  Sitka.  By  and  by,  "  the  eatables  and 
drinkables  "  were  on  the  table,  and  we  were  all  as  bold 


90  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

as  Diggory.  For  my  part,  I  have  not  been  displeased 
with  my  initiation  into  high  fashionable  society  in 
Boston. 

Now,  my  dear  mother,  I  have  made  this  letter  short 
enough  to  please  the  printers,  and  so  I  have  not  told 
you  half  I  have  to  say.  What  you  will  care  for  most 
is  that  I  am  very  well  and  am  not  yet  tired  of  Boston. 
I  really  hope  that  in  my  next  letter  I  may  have  some 
thing  to  say.  Give  my  love  to  the  children  and  to 
Florence.  I  was  sorry  she  was  not  there  last  night ; 
we  might  have  waltzed  together  all  the  evening,  and 
nobody  would  have  known  it  was  a  brother  and 
sister  dancing  together. 

P.  S.  —  Did  you  see  that  they  put  in  some  pictures, 
which  they  called  illustrations  of  my  letters  ?  You 
never  can  tell  who  is  snapping  a  camera  on  you  now, 
wherever  you  go.  There  would  have  been  a  picture 
of  me  at  the  prayer-meeting,  and  another  picture  of 
me  at  the  party  waltzing  with  Miss  Eutledge,  if  those 
fellows  had  yet  learned  how  to  take  photographs  by 
such  light  as  we  had  at  the  chapel  or  in  Mrs.  Cham- 
pernoon's  house.  I  beg  to  say  to  you  that  I  am  not 
responsible  for  these  pictures,  and  I  made  such  a  row 
when  the  fellows  laughed  about  my  being  bald  in  the 
back  of  my  head,  because  they  said  I  was  che  person 
represented  in  the  picture,  that  this  time  there  will 
not  be  any  picture.  At  least,  so  they  promised  me  in 
the  newspaper  office.  How  soon  they  will  change 
their  minds  they  know  themselves ;  but  I  am  sure  I 
do  not  know. 

Truly  yours, 

HARRY. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  91 


CHAPTER  EIGHTH. 

X. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  July  28,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  Such  a  really  "  country  "  morn 
ing  as  I  have  been  having !  You  would  imagine  I 
was  actually  in  Astney  and  that  I  had  wandered  off 
away  into  the  fields.  Only  I  was,  indeed,  more  alone 
by  myself  than  I  am  apt  to  be  at  home  in  the  summer. 
The  park  into  which  Commonwealth  Avenue  passes, 
— the  green  fields  over  which  Leif  Ericson  looks,  —  is 
not  far  away  from  the  house  here. 

It  was  a  holiday  morning  and  I  actually  took  a  book 
out  with  me;  for  I  have  had  this  plan  ever  since  I 
have  been  here,  only  the  days  have  hurried  by  in  so 
busy  a  way  that  I  have  had  no  chance.  Only  think  of 
it !  Those  hours  of  study  that  I  planned  in  the  sum 
mer  months  of  "  solitude "  in  Boston  !  I  have  not 
found  them  yet.  I  have  not  even  found  time  to  look 
up  the  books  for  them,  nor  time  to  "  establish  "  myself 
at  the  Public  Library,  nor  to  arrange  having  a  card  of 
permission  for  taking  out  books  there. 

So  it  was  not  a  book  of  study  that  I  took  with  me. 
It  was  to  be  a  time  of  real  rest ;  for  I  was  having  a 
Saturday.  I  was  enchanted  with  the  place  I  found ; 
such  lovely  walks  in  the  midst  of  all  sorts  of  wild 
flowers  that  I  wanted  to  botanize  directly.  There  was 
that  Astragalus,  don't  you  remember,  that  you  and  I 
"  did  "  last  year  in  Vermont  with  our  Gray's  Botany  ? 
Then  besides  such  lovely  wild  roses,  some  daisies  still 


92  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

lingering,  and  wild  morning-glories.  Besides  them, 
delightful,  old-fashioned  garden  flowers,  tiger  lilies, 
magnificent  groups  of  them  that  you  would  like  to 
paint,  shepherd's  purse,  gay  marigplds,  all  hidden  in 
masses  of  wild-looking  shrubs,  and  not  laid  out  with  a 
tiresome  regularity,  but  in  the  greatest  luxuriance  and 
confusion.  Then  there  were  such  delightful  seats,  that 
looked  so  inviting  and  comfortable,  not  like  the  stiff 
iron  seats  usually  in  public  places,  as  if  they  were 
meant  for  an  unruly  multitude,  but  as  if  for  you  and 
me  or  just  one  or  two  of  us.  I  did  sit  there  all  the 
morning  and  listened  to  the  birds  singing  all  round 
me,  and  part  of  the  time  watching  the  ducks  swim 
ming  about  in  a  little  lake  close  by.  And,  yes,  I 
did  read  a  little ;  and  something  that  I  read,  set  me 
thinking. 

Laurence  Oliphant  says  that  the  best  part  of  every 
thing' is  the  anticipation.  He  went  into  a  life  of  ad 
venture,  rushing  from  one  exciting  thing  to  another, 
so  that  you  would  think  he  would  never  have  found 
time  for  anticipation,  especially  as  with  him  the 
event  always  came  so  suddenly.  It  must  have  been 
always,  indeed,  a  part  of  the  anticipation,  it  came  so 
quickly.  I  think,  perhaps,  that  he  is  partly  right. 
If  what  happens  comes  out  to  "meet  our  anticipa 
tions,"  as  we  say,  it  just  doubles  all  we  had  fancied, 
and  we  enjoy  it  all  over  twice.  We  go  back  to  our 
happy  anticipation  and  have  the  two-fold  pleasure, 
thinking  :  "  Ah,  it  is  just  all  I  fancied  it  would  be." 
Now  this  life  here  is  quite  different  from  what  1 
fancied  it.  Still  it  has  some  of  that  very  charm  that 
made  me  long  for  it,  and  so  I  really  am  having  a 
double  enjoyment  in  the  anticipation  and  its  follow 
ing,  like  the  image  and  the  reflection  in  the  water, 
only  the  reflection  has  come  first. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  93 

I  began  a  week  ago,  and  many  things  have  happened 
since,  of  my  kind  of  happenings,  such  as  I  think  you 
will  be  interested  in,  especially  as  you  want  to  know 
more  about  my  mysterious  Class  Day  acquaintance, 
who,  you  write,  "  seems  to  be  always  tumbling  into 
adventures."  He  still  remains  in  the  rank  of  ac 
quaintances,  though  I  have  seen  him  since  and  have 
learned  his  name,  —  which  belongs  to  another  chapter 
of  my  history.  Only  don't  expect  too  much  ;  for  I 
have  not  yet  spoken  to  him.  I  think  he  is  to  remain 
ever  an  inaccessible  myth,  for  I  seem  to  see  him  only 
in  the  distance,  as  if  on  the  stage,  and  I  in  one  of  the 
boxes. 

To  begin,  I  must  tell  you  about  our  Boston  even 
ings.  Anna  and  I  have  taken  up  a  delightful  fashion 
of  sitting  on  the  door-steps  here,  just  as  if  we  were  at 
home  at  Astney,  only  instead  of  neighbors  dropping 
in  to  talk  to  us,  as  they  always  did  there,  we  look  out 
upon  the  silent  street,  with  its  electric  lights,  and  an 
occasional  policeman  turning  up  round  the  corner. 
Anna's  brother  and  his  wife  are  here  from  the  West, 
and  are  at  the  Vendome,  and  they  come  a\most  every 
evening.  Sometimes  we  all  go  off  somewhere,  —  one 
evening  to  the  "Last  Days  of  Pompeii''!  Yes,  we  really 
all  went  in  a  gay  party.  Then  one  evening  we  took 
a  West  End  car  and  went  all  round  the  town  and  its 
lighted  streets,  a  trip  that  took  us  about  one  hour 
and  a  half,  and  for  five  cents  apiece,  —  on  the  same 
car  all  the  time.  It  was  a  splendid  lesson  in  geo 
graphy  for  me. 

We  took  the  car  away  up  on  Washington  Street, 
went  on  through  Temple  Place,  where  we  saw  no 
"  temple,"  into  Tremont  Street  to  Scollay  Square, 
where  I  have  been  before,  to  see  the  statue  of  John 
Winthrop  that  stands  in  the  middle  of  a  cobweb  of 
streets,  out  of  which  we  threaded  our  way  into 


94  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

streets  still  narrower,  to  another  of  these  "  squares," 
where  stands  the  Eevere  House.  Then  on,  turning 
right  angles,  almost  jostling  other  lines  of  horse-cars, 
into  Charles  Street,  that  interests  me,  as  there  is  the 
gymnasium  I  wrote  you  of,  and  I  may  decide  to  live 
there  next  winter.  Then  unexpectedly  we  turned  up 
between  the  Common  and  the  lovely  Public  Garden, 
shooting  away  from,  the  latter  into  unknown  regions 
again,  when  I  found  myself  at  the  very  place  where 
we  had  taken'the  car.  It  was  a  most  interesting  tour 
all  round  the  town,  in  the  open  car  where  I  could  see 
everything.  Such  crowds  of  people  as  we  went 
through,  getting  some  slight  idea  of  the  shape  of  the 
town  ;  and  I  have  repeated  it  since  by  daylight  in  the 
afternoon,  all  by  myself. 

But  we  do  enjoy  our  door-step  evenings,  taking  our 
cushions  to  sit  upon  and  wraps,  for  some  of  the  even 
ings  have  been  cool,  and  such  delightful  chats  as  we 
have  there !  And  we  have  not  lacked  visitors ;  for 
sundry  friends  know  where  to  find  us,  and  we  have 
some  charming  door-step  parties.  And  one  evening 
Mr.  Brand  brought  his  sister  Rosamond.  They  live 
at  Arlington,  but  there  was  a  late  train  out  they  could 
take,  so  they  planned  this  evening  call.  They  have 
been  very  kind  to  me  and  have  invited  me  to  spend 
an .  afternoon  and  night  there.  We  had  told  Mr. 
Brand  about  our  quiet  evenings  and  solitary  street,  so 
we  were  all  very  much  surprised  when,  as  the  even 
ing  passed  on,  we  could  see  a  house  below  us  on  the 
opposite  side  lighted  up,  and  an  awning  in  front  of  the 
door.  Then  carriages  appeared,  one  after  another, 
full  of  guests  who  were  ushered  in,  and  there  was  a 
band  of  music  and  every  sign  of  a  gay  party. 

Mr.  Brand  and  his  sister  laughed  at  our  idea  of 
solitude  which  we  had  promised  them,  and  we  went 
down  to  enjoy  the  music.  As  we  walked  up  and  down 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  95 

on  the  walk  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  we  could  look 
into  the  brilliantly  lighted  rooms,  and  were  much 
amused  at  watching  the  figures  moving  about,  and 
listening  to  the  Babel  of  voices  and  the  strains  of 
music  that  overpowered  all. 

Suddenly  Mr.  Brand  exclaimed,  "  There  is  our  mys 
terious  friend  whom  we  did  not  see  drown  the  other 
day."  And  at  the  same  moment  the  very  person,  my 
Class  Day  partner,  appeared  talking  to  a  young  lady, 
whom  Mr.  Brand  knew,  a  Miss  Osborne,  very  pretty, 
with  a  lovely  white  gauze  dress  and  a  bunch  of  wild 
roses  in  front.  Of  course  I  hurried  Mr.  Brand  away  ; 
for  I  thought  it  would  seem  so  horrid  if  we  were  seen 
spying  into  our  neighbors'  houses  in  that  way.  But 
Mr.  Brand  said  if  he  had  only  known  the  name  of  the 
mysterious  stranger,  he  would  have  gone  across  and 
spoken  to  him  and  Miss  Osborne.  I  am  thankful  he 
did  not,  but  I  was  really  quite  relieved  to  see  that 
our  unknown  was  indeed  alive ;  for  I  have  been  very 
anxious  about  him. 

All  this  took  place  some  days  before  my  discovering 
his  name,  which  came  as  the  result  of  a  visit  I  have 
been  wanting  to  make  upon  Miss  Dexter,  whom,  you. 
may  remember,  I  tried  to  find  some  time  ago.  But  I 
have  been  too  busy  to  take  an  afternoon  for  it.  My 
mornings  do  tire  me  ;  I  have  to  give  so  much  attention 
to  my  class  of  boys,  and  they  require  so  much  watch 
fulness.  They  are  just  as  full  of  mischief  as  they  can 
be  ;  they  want  to  be  "  carrying  on  "  all  the  time  ;  and 
I  like  to  have  them  lively,  as  I  hate  the  idea  of 
oppressing  them  and  keeping  them  under,  in  their 
summer  days. 

I  must  tell  you  one  of  their  jokes  that  I  did  not  get 
at  for  a  long  time.  I  noticed  that  when  one  of  the 
boys  had  been  speaking  to  me  by  name,  one  of  the 
others  would  shout  out,  "Jamaica  Plain  to  the  Depots," 


96  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

or  something  about  the  Jamaica  Plain  cars.  I  could 
not  make  out  what  they  meant  by  it,  and  supposed 
they  thought  I  lived  at  Jamaica  Plain.  But  one  day, 
when  a  very  small  boy  had  been  calling  out,  in  a  very 
squeaky  but  stentorian  voice,  my  name,  "  Miss  Sand- 
ford,"  in  a  way  that  might  be  heard  through  the 
whole  building,  half  a  dozen  boys  began,  "  Best  puri 
fied  Jamaica  Ginger ! "  "  Good  for  families  ! "  "  Sold 
in  bottles  by  the  dozen  !  "  "  No  family  should  be  with 
out  it ! "  "  Sandford's  Jamaica  Ginger  ! "  shouted  an 
other,  and  then  it  all  came  over  me  that  it  was  my 
name  they  were  joking  about,  and  I  could  not  help 
joining  in  the  laugh.  Did  you  ever  know  anything 
so  absurd  ? 

After  the  racket  had  died  off  a  little,  I  stood  up  in 
front  of  the  platform  and  said,  "  Now,  boys,  you  seem 
to  think  that  it  is  a  very  good  joke  ;  so  we  will  have 
it  every  day,  regularly  at  one  o'clock,  after  the  arith 
metic  lesson.  I  am  a  little  tired  of  hearing  it  quite 
as  often  as  we  have  been  having  it,  and  I  think  once  a 
morning  will  do.  But  any  boy  that  wants  it  oftener 
can  hold  up  his  hand."  Each  boy  grinned  upon  his 
neighbor  to  see  who  was  holding  up  his  hand,  but  not 
a  hand  was  raised.  The  next  day  after  the  arithmetic 
lesson  —  which  I  have  not  yet  described  to  you  —  I 
said,  "Now  we  will  have  the  Sandford  joke,  if  there  's 
anybody  here  who  is  not  tired  of  it."  But  they  looked 
a  little  ashamed,  and  I  have  heard  no  more  of  it  since. 

In  general,  I  get  on  very  well ;  but  it  does  tax  all 
my  strength,  and  makes  me  inclined  to  be  lazy  in  the 
afternoon,  especially  if  we  have  a  hot,  muggy  day,  as 
frequently  happens.  But  one  afternoon  this  week, 
when  there  was  an  east  wind,  I  walked  all  the  way 
down  to  the  home  of  Miss  Dexter.  The  Flower  Mis 
sion  had  made  its  visit  at  school  that  morning,  and 
this  always  rejoices  the  children.  Two  young  ladies 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  97 

came  to  the  school  with  large  baskets  of  flowers.  It 
happened  that  they  came  late,  and  many  of  the  chil 
dren  were  in  the  yard  and  crowded  round  pulling  each 
other  away  in  their  eagerness.  Even  niy  older  boys 
were  glad  of  their  share,  and  wanted  me  to  put  a  pink 
or  else  a  yellow  daisy  in  their  button-holes  in  the 
proper  style.  I  took  away  a  little  bunch  for  my 
friend  at  the  North  End  ;  but  I  found  she  did  not  care 
much  for  flowers,  and  said  she  would  take  them  down 
to  a  sick  woman  beJow.  She  said  she  had  not  any 
thing  suitable  to  put  them  in,  and  she  never  wanted  to 
keep  anything  for  them,  it  was  such  a  trouble  to  wash 
up  anything  extra.  She  did  take  a  marigold  and  stick 
it  in  her  looking-glass  ;  it  seemed  to  touch  a  chord 
somewhere. 

For  I  found  Miss  Dexter  at  home  and  managed  at 
last  to  make  her  understand  who  I  was.  She  did  not 
remember  much  about  my  mother,  for  which  I  was 
very  sorry,  as  I  wanted  to  hear  about  her  youthful 
days.  But  she  had  many  stories  to  tell  of  my  aunt 
who  was  many  years  older.  It  was  she  who  told  me 
about  Mr.  Merton,  who  had  been  to  see  her,  though 
she  was  forgetful  of  names,  she  said,  and  "  mebbe 
she  had  n't  it  right."  But  she  looked  up  a  note  he 
had  brought  from  his  mother,  and  there  the  name  was 
fairly  written  out,  —  for  fortunately  she  had  sent  a 
number  of  notes  to  Miss  Dexter,  —  and  the  name  is 
Merton.  "  I  knew  it  began  with  an  '  M, '  "  said  Miss 
Dexter,  "  but  it  might  have  been  Milton  or  Morton,  I  am 
so  forgetful  of  names."  It  was  lucky  I  went  early ;  for 
I  stayed  a  long  time  talking.  I  asked  her  if  she  did 
not  want  to  get  out  of  town  in  the  summer,  vaguely 
thinking  I  might  find  some  kindly  home  for  her  in  a 
farmhouse  in  the  country  for  a  few  weeks  —  she 
seemed  so  shut  in,  in  the  midst  of  the  brick  walls. 
"  Where  it  would  be  more  quiet  and  cool,"  I  suggested. 

7 


98  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

But  she  broke  out  in  great  indignation.  Evidently 
she  felt  that  I  did  not  appreciate  the  advantages  of 
Boston.  She  declared  it  to  be  the  coolest  place  that 
could  be  found.  All  the  Southerners,  she  said,  came 
up  to  Boston  to  get  cool ;  and  when  she  was  young 
nobody  thought  of  leaving  Boston,  unless  they  had 
houses  in  the  neighborhood  where  they  could  come  in 
often.  And  as  for  the  quiet  of  the  country,  it  made 
her  feel  lonesome.  And,  besides,  the  cocks  and  the 
hens  made  such  a  crowing  and  a  cackling  that  it  woke 
her  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  she  could  n't  get  to 
sleep  again.  She  liked  the  winter  better  anyhow,  be 
cause  the  days  were  shorter,  and  she  could  go  out  to  the 
lectures  in  the  evening.  There  were  the  Lowell  lec 
tures,  to  which  she  goes,  I  found,  because  she  does 
not  have  to  pay. 

My  interest  woke  up  in  these,  and  I  asked  about 
the  subjects  last  winter,  and  wondered  which  she  was 
most  interested  in,  and  supposed  they  would  be  those 
with  the  stereopticon.  But  no,  that  tired  her  eyes, 
she  said,  and  she  had  to  shut  them  while  the  pictures 
were  going  on  ;  but,  she  said,  it  was  a  warm  place  to 
go  to,  and  it  was  economical,  as  she  could  let  her  stove 
go  out  and  could  save  in  lamp  oil,  because  she  does 
not  use  the  gas  !  Still  she  seems  to  be  something  of  a 
reader,  and  had  some  well-worn  books  about  and  a 
pile  of  Christian  Kegisters.  Yet  she  said  she  had 
never  taken  a  card  at  the  Public  Library.  She  sup 
posed  it  would  be  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  get  one, 
and  quite  likely  the  books  she  wanted  would  be  out. 

Indeed,  she  seemed  to  me  a  sort  of  fossil  specimen 
of  a  former  date  'that  does  not  care  to  attach  itself  to 
our  present  mode  of  life,  and  will  not  accept  even  its 
advantages  and  progress.  It  was  delightful  to  hear 
her  talk  of  the  older  time,  of  Brattle  Street  Church 
where  she  used  to  go,  and  of  the  steps  that  still  lead  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  99 

the  place  where  it  stood.  I  believe  she  thinks  there 
is  no  other  preaching  equal  to  what  she  heard  there 
and  which  she  can  hear  no  longer,  now  that  the 
church  is  moved  so  far  away  and  is  not  what  it  used 
to  be,  when  the  cannon-ball  was  still  in  its  walls 
which  Putnam's  men  fired  there.  I  could  not  persuade 
her  to  say  she  would  go  to  see  the  hollyhocks  exhib 
ited  free  last  Saturday  at  Horticultural  Hall.  She 
told  me  much  about  Harry  Merton  and  his  family. 
His  mother  must  be  a  lovely  woman  from  her  notes  ; 
for  Miss  Dexter  would  read  them  all  to  me,  though  I 
felt  she  ought  not. 

I  must  hurry  on  in  this  long  letter  to  tell  you  of 
another  expedition  to  see  the  sea  that  Anna  and  I 
accomplished.  We  went  on  a  voyage  of  discovery  to 
City  Point,  taking  a  car  at  Park  Square  and  going 
through  some  miserable  parts  of  the  town  on  Albany 
Street  and  Harrison  Avenue,  perhaps  more  squalid 
even  than  the  narrow  streets  of  the  North  End. 
Anna  and  I  are  always  struck  by  the  contrasts  of 
things,  in  leaving  the  large  airy  houses  on  Common 
wealth  Avenue  and  Beacon  Street,  all  deserted  now 
and  boarded  up  for  fear  some  stray  intruder  should 
venture  in,  and  then  finding,  at  the  other  end  of  the 
town,  the  close  tenement  houses  swarming  with  men, 
women,  and  children,  with  scarcely  even  air  to 
breathe.  It  seems  as  if  it  were  all  very  unequal  in 
an  American  country,  and  as  if  they  ought  to  be  al 
lowed  to  go  and  breathe  for  a  while  in  the  large,  unoc 
cupied  palaces  at  the  other  end  of  the  town. 

And  then  I  remember  the  wide,  unoccupied  land 
around  our  little  town  of  Astney  at  home  and 
the  deserted  farmhouses ;  and  I  can't  but  think 
that  it  is  partly  these  people's  fault  that  they  are 
living  here  in  these  "  stived  "  up  places,  and  that  they 
might  go  out  into  the  country  —  many  of  them  —  if 


100  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

they  chose,  and  that  if  they  went  into  the  palaces  for 
a  while,  they  would  leave  them  perhaps  as  squalid  as 
their  tenements  are.  And  as  our  open  horse-car  bore 
us  along,  away  from  the  close  streets  into  the  wide 
thoroughfares,  we  praised  the  owners  of  the  up-town 
palaces,  who  are  doing  so  much  to  purify  these  close 
streets  and  give  to  their  crowded  inhabitants  a  chance 
at  fresh  air. 

Soon  we  began  to  have  pretty  views  of  the  ocean, 
as  we  turned  corners  here  and  there ;  and  the  car  was 
filled  with  women  who  were  taking  their  children  for 
a  breath  of  the  sea.  When  the  conductor  at  last  said, 
"City  Point,"  we  alighted  and  followed  the  crowd 
that  went  towards  the  Pier.  This  extends  far  out 
into  the  deep  sea.  I  heard  a  man  say  it  was  3,580 
feet  long ;  it  is  wide  enough  for  a  dozen  people  to  walk 
abreast.  Hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children  were 
walking  up  and  down,  —  such  a  blessing  as  the  place 
must  be  to  them  !  Several  mothers  had  brought  their 
sewing  along,  and  did  their  mending  while  they  held 
the  ever-present  baby  in  their  laps  and  the  children 
ran  up  and  down.  There  are  benches  all  along  on 
either  side,  and  the  Pier  is  partly  covered,  which 
must  be  very  nice  when  it  rains.  Then  there  are 
hundreds  of  electric  lights  and  lamps,  and  it  must  be 
lovely  to  walk  there  in  the  evening.  Here  and  there 
girls  were  sitting  reading,  or  with  their  embroidery. 

And  then  the  view  was  lovely.  All  around  were 
hundreds  of  little  yachts,  and  it  was  very  entertaining 
to  watch  their  changing  motions.  Just  opposite  the 
Pier  is  Fort  Independence  on  one  side  and  on  the 
other  Thompson's  Island.  I  believe  there  is  an 
Orphan  Boys'  Home  there.  In  the  distance  we  could 
see  Deer  Island,  the  terror  of  the  boys,  and  its  build 
ings  look  quite  like  some  feudal  castle.  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  some  of  my  boys,  young  as  they  are,  are 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY,  101 

acquainted  with  it,  having  had  an  occasional  sentence 
of  "  ten  days  at  the  Island."  Far  away  was  a  glimpse 
of  the  dark  sea  line,  and  altogether  it  was  a  lovely 
sight,  as  we  left  it  with  the  sunset  lights  streaming 
over  from  the  west. 

We  went  back  in  a  Cambridge  car  that  took  us  to 
Park  Square,  and  it  was  crowded  with  children  who 
had  come  early  in  the  afternoon  all  the  way  from 
Cambridge.  They  told  us  that  they  came  free  ;  that 
is,  any  children  who  went  to  the  City  Hall  in  Cam 
bridge  and  asked  for  car-tickets  were  given  them  to 
go  all  the  distance  from  Cambridge,  over  the  pretty 
bridge,  then  through  Park  Square  to  South  Boston 
and  to  the  Pier,  where  these  children  had  passed  the 
afternoon.  They  had  had  a  jolly  time  and  would  get 
home  a  little  after  sunset. 

We  often  walk  up  to  the  edge  of  the  park  here,  at 
sunset,  to  get  the  beautiful  changes  of  life,  —  the  park 
that  I  began  my  letter  with;  and  I  did  not  finish 
then  about  the  book  I  was  reading,  so  intensely  ex 
citing,  the  life  of  Laurence  Oliphant.  I  do  hope  you 
have  got  hold  of  it  and  are  reading  it.  It  is  interest 
ing  as  a  history  of  our  last  half-century  ;  for  Laurence 
Oliphant  was  "  in  "  the  very  height  of  all  its  motion. 
There  was  not  a  war  nor  a  revolution  nor  an  insur 
rection  but  what  he  sniffed  it  afar,  or  else  he  was  in 
the  midst  of  it, — before  it  began,  as  you  might  say, — 
in  the  Crimea  before  that  war,  in  Japan  among  the 
first,  in  the  Polish  insurrection.  How  many  wars, 
indeed,  our  half-century  has  seen,  and  this  man  was 
in  the  midst  of  them  all.  Then  his  own  private  life 
and  thoughts  were  so  intensely  interesting.  I  do 
hope  you  will  read  it,  only  my  telling  you  to  is  like 
the  English  woman,  who  told  an  American  friend  she 
met  at  a  pension  that  she  hoped  that  her  husband, 
who  was  on  his  way  to  Koine,  would  go  and  see 


102  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

St.  Peter's.  "  He  would  find  it  quite  worth  his 
while  !  "  For  "  everybody  "  is  reading  and  talking 
about  the  life  of  Laurence  Oliphant,  and  doubtless 
you  are,  among  the  rest.  And  I,  who  do  so  little 
reading,  who  am  I,  to  advise  you  ?  You  ought  to  tell 
me  not  to  write  so  much  to  you. 

And  I  have  not  written  you  about  my  going  to  the 
celebration  of  Jennie  Collins's  birthday.  She  it  was, 
you  know,  who  founded  "  Boffin's  Bower "  and  gave 
dinners  to  the  working-girls.  One  of  the  rooms  at 
the  "  Helping-Hand  Home "  —  of  which  you  shall 
hear  more  —  is  named  for  her,  and  her  picture  hangs 
upon  the  wall.  It  is  the  sitting-room,  and  there,  too, 
are  some  of  her  favorite  articles  of  furniture.  Before 
she  died  she  asked  "  that  her  memory  should  be  kept 
green,"  and  so  her  birthday  was  celebrated  in  this 
room.  The  room  was  fragrant  with  flowers  and  there 
was  lovely  music,  and  reminiscences  of  all  she  had 
done  were  related.  It  was  all  intensely  interesting. 
"  More  in  our  next." 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  103 


CHAPTER   NINTH. 

XL 

HARKY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

BOSTON  (at  the  office),  July  24,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  We  are  in  for  it  this  time,  I 
can  tell  you.  And  if  this  letter  stops  in  the  next 
line,  and  these  old  newspaper  people  have  to  fill  up 
with  the  third  book  of  Chronicles  —  indeed  I  do  not 
know.  But  it  is  all  now  settled  that  the  concern 
will  move  here.  Our  temporary  engagements  are 
extended.  We  take  five-years'  leases  of  the  sheds 
and  houses  and  of  our  nice  office  here.  And  notices 
were  given  Monday  for  the  whole  staff  to  report  at 
this  office  next  Monday  morning. 

Of  course  they  have  all  known,  more  or  less,  that 
something  was  in  the  wind.  But  nobody  could  know 
certainly,  because  the  chief  and  the  directors  did  not 
know  themselves.  But  now  they  have  had  the  great 
meeting  in  New  York.  The  "  proxies  "  were  all  as 
they  should  be,  and  there  was  no  turn-out  of  our  old 
board ;  only  Mr.  Gunn  became  vice-president,  and 
then,  as  you  know  of  course,  the  treasurer's  office 
almost  had  to  be  here,  and  everything  else  had  to 
follow. 

You  can  see  what  a  break-up  this  makes  at  Leeds. 
All  told,  the  pay  roll  is  for  forty-eight  men,  and  I 
suppose  thirty-five  of  them  are  married.  Leeds  will 
be  in  tears  for  the  loss  of  so  many  of  its  people.  I 
am  afraid  Boston  will  not  know  that  they  arrive. 


104  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

But  I  know ;  for  I  have  a  sheaf  of  letters  under  my 
hand  here  from  the  different  fellows,  who  want  me  to 
hunt  up  rooms  or  tenements  or  houses  for  them,  so 
that  they  can  send  their  furniture  right  on  and  find 
it  here  when  they  arrive  with  their  families.  I  am 
slamming  round  in  a  cab,  every  minute  the  chief  will 
give  me,  looking  at  houses  and  deciding  the  fates 
of  these  poor  women  who  have  to  be  dumped  into  the 
rooms  I  choose  for  them,  without  the  luxury  of  house 
hunting  for  themselves.  As  for  the  men.  they  only 
sleep  at  Koine,  and  they  bring  their  old  bedsteads  with 
them. 

I  tell  you  one  thing,  dear  Mother.  I  do  not  put 
any  of  them  into  tenement  houses.  I  hate  that  whole 
business.  I  write  and  advise,  and  advise  and  write, 
that  everybody  must  have  his  own  house.  Or  perhaps 
I  do  give  one  house  to  two  families,  and  make  one  set 
go  up  one  flight.  But  beyond  one  flight,  none  of  my 
clients  go.  This  means  that  I  take  most  of  them  five 
or  ten  miles  out  of  what  Mr.  Champernoon  calls  the 
"city  proper,"  into  some  Boylston  or  Brighton  or 
Allston  or  Roslindale.  I  am  becoming  very  learned 
in  suburban  time-tables.  I  have  placed  two  or  three 
families  on  the  high  lands  in  South  Boston.  And 
this  will  make  you  understand  what  our  Kapid  Tran 
sit  problems  are,  which  I  dare  say  you  have  skipped 
when  you  read  your  Journal.  The  company  allows 
two  days  for  moving.  That  is,  the  office  at  Leeds 
closes  Thursday  night  and  all  these  gentlemen  report 
to  us  Monday  morning.  The  mail  begins  to  come  to 
us  Friday.  What  we  are  to  do  with  them,  the  chief 
and  I  and  the  Russian  Bear  and  two  or  three  tempo 
rary  copying-clerks,  on  Friday  and  Saturday,  remains 
to  be  seen. 

Is  not  this  emigration  of  a  whole  community  queer  ? 
I  suppose  such  things  happen  all  the  time.  If  the 


THEf  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  105 

emigration  was  from  Boston  to  Leeds,  the  Leeds 
newspaper  would  have  told  of  it,  and  the  Boston 
papers  would  have  copied  the  paragraph,  and  as  much 
fuss  would  have  been  made  about  us  all  as  if  we  were 
Pilgrim  Fathers  and  Mothers  —  which  we  are  not. 
As  it  is,  nobody  in  Boston  except  me  knows  they  are 
coming. 

Do  you  not  remember  that  picture  at  the  Hartford 
Athenaeum  of  the  procession  of  the  first  settlers  from 
Cambridge  to  Hartford,  when  it  took  them  seventeen 
days  to  go  ?  I  remember  there  is  a  white  horse  in  it, 
which  used  to  seem  to  me  to  be  our  old  Sally.  I  could 
not  help  thinking  of  that,  as  I  made  these  arrange 
ments  for  twice  that  number  of  people  —  twice  the 
number  of  the  Pilgrims  indeed  —  when  we  gave  them 
a  week's  warning  for  their  change  of  home  and  gave 
them  two  days  to  make  it  in.  But  I  think  I  am  wiser 
than  the  Pilgrims.  I  have  not  put  all  my  people  to 
gether.  They  had  better  not  talk  "shop"  all  the 
time ;  so  I  have  put  two  or  three  families  at  South 
Boston,  some  at  Roxbury,  two  at  Dorchester,  three  at 
Boylston,  two  at  Jamaica  Plain,  two  at  Roslindale, 
and  one  at  Central,  four  at  Allston,  two  at  Melrose, 
and  three  in  Cambridgeport.  I  always  let  everybody 
have  an  old  neighbor  from  Leeds.  But  for  more  than 
that,  they  must  make  new  friends.  It  does  not  make 
much  difference  what  I  do  for  them ;  for  at  the  end 
of  six  months  they  will  all  move. 

I  had  to  decide  about  their  houses  in  very  quick 
metre  sometimes.  There  was  one  nice  house  I  went 
to  twice,  and  I  was  more  pleased  the  second  time  than 
the  first.  But  just  as  I  came  downstairs,  I  saw  a 
large  girl  —  I  supposed  a  servant  girl  —  thrashing  a 
poor  little  boy  awfully  in  the  front  garden.  I  in 
terfered,  which  was  dangerous.  To  which  she  said, 
"Mind  your  own  business,  and  I  will  mind  mine.  I 


106  THR  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

am  his  mother.  And  if  I  cannot  slap  him  who  can  ?  " 
I  fled  confounded.  But  I  told  the  agent  that  I  did  not 
want  the  half-house  where  she  ruled  supreme  in  the 
other  half. 

How  they  will  all  like  their  new  homes  I  cannot 
pretend  to  say.  But  they  will  all  arrive,  bag  and  bag 
gage,  Friday  night  or  Saturday  morning.  I  have  been 
coaching  the  Russian  Bear  and  the  office  errand  boy, 
as  well  as  I  can,  about  the  difference  between  Melrose 
and  Roslindale,  and  I  hope  that  I  shall  not  get  many 
bad  mixtures.  If  we  can  keep  the  right  babies  with 
the  right  mothers  we  shall  do  well.  And  as  for 
trunks  and  carpet-bags,  they  must  take  their  chances. 
Keally,  I  feel  quite  proud  of  myself  as  an  organizer  of 
emigration. 


CAMBRIDGE,  July  30. 

You  must  thank  Nahum  for  his  nice  letter.  Tell 
him  I  wish  I  could  write  him  a  separate  letter  now. 
But  as  soon  as  the  moving  is  all  over,  I  will  write  him 
a  letter  all  for  himself.  I  understand  very  well  what 
the  children  say  about  my  letters  being  grown-up 
letters  and  not  funny  letters.  This  shows. you,  dear 
Mother,  how  the  cares  of  life  are  gathering  on  my 
head.  But  Nahum  and  Florence  will  both  like  to 
hear  about  the  Fall  of  Pompeii.  I  so  wished  they  had 
been  with  me  when  I  went  around  there. 

When  we  came  into  the  grounds  we  found  them  ar 
ranged  as  follows.  The  grounds  were  oval.  In  the 
middle  was  an  oval  artificial  pond,  one  hundred  yards 
long  and  fifty  yards  wide.  Around  this  pond  was  a 
race  track  like  that  at  the  circus.  Along  one  .of  the 
long  stretches  of  the  track  were  the  seats,  not  stretch 
ing  around  the  track  as  they  do  at  a  circus,  but  ex 
tending  in  a  straight  line  with  many  tiers,  so  that 


777.fi:  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  107 

they  might  accommodate  perhaps  ten  thousand  per 
sons.  The  lowest  seats  were  about  fifteen  yards  from 
the  track. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  pond,  across  the  farther 
part  of  the  track,  stretched  the  buildings  of  Pompeii 
in  a  line.  The  scene  represented,  I  suppose,  a  street 
running  alongside  the  water.  There  were  a  number 
of  temples,  but  nothing  that  looked  much  like  a 
dwelling-house.  Between  the  track  and  the  buildings 
the  street  was  some  thirty  yards  wide,  giving  room 
for  processions  and  athletic  feats.  Directly  to  the 
right  of  the  extreme  right-hand  building  was  a  gigan 
tic  sign  painted  white  on  a  black  fence,  "Read  the 
Daily  Traveller."  One  of  the  young  men  suggested 
that  it  ought  to  say,  "  Lege  Viatorem  Cotidianum." 
Perhaps  Nahum's  Latin  is  up  to  that.  If  not,  he 
must  ask  Mr.  Walsingham  to  explain  it  to  him. 

The  first  part  of  the  show  began  at  about  eight  o'clock. 
It  was  a  procession  of  the  citizens  of  Pompeii. 
Usually  there  are  programmes  to  tell  what  is  going 
on ;  but  on  this  night  the  programmes  did  not  come. 
The  citizens  of  Pompeii  consisted  largely  of  dancing 
girls  with  very  short  skirts.  The  very  first  one  who 
appeared  danced  very  well ;  then  they  gradually  de 
teriorated  till  the  last  girls,  who  were  frequently  out 
of  time  and  not  at  all  graceful.  Before  and  after  the 
dancing  there  was  a  little  pantomime  acting.  It  was 
supposed  to  represent  some  well-known  scene  in  Bul- 
wer's  "Last  Days  of  Pompeii."  But  no  one  paid 
much  attention  to  this  part  of  the  performance  ;  for 
one  could  not  make  out  much  of  what  was  happening, 
even  if  one  wished  to  know. 

Two  gymnasts  now  appeared  with  a  clown.  They 
came  running  round  the  track  till  they  were  directly 
between  the  spectators  and  the  water.  In  the  space 
between  us  and  the  track  were  three  horiaoutal  bars, 


108  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

\ 

parallel,  on  the  same  level,  about  eight  feet  apart  from 
each  other  and  about  twenty  feet  from  the  ground,  with 
their  ends  toward  us.  The  athletes  were  very  agile 
and  really  did  their  part  well ;  and  the  clown  was  ex 
tremely  laughable.  There  was  a  net  stretched  under 
neath  the  bars,  so  that  there  was  no  danger.  This  is 
really  necessary ;  for  the  other  day  a  man  broke  his 
leg  there.  The  two  gymnasts  ended  up  by  getting 
hold  of  the  same  bar  and  doing  the  "  giant's  swing  " 
at  the  same  time,  going  round  and  round,  with  great 
clouds  coming  from  red  fire  behind  them.  It  was 
very  effective.  Tell  Nahum  to  ask  Will  Babcock  to 
try  this  with  him. 

Then  there  was  a  galloping  race  between  horses,  a 
race  between  a  man  and  a  horse,  and  a  two-horse  and 
a  four-horse  chariot  race,  —  all  just  like  the  races  at 
a  circus.  Then  there  was  a  bicycle  performance,  the 
interesting  thing  about  which  was  a  little  bit  of  a  girl 
who  was  the  chief  performer.  She  seemed  about  six 
years  old,  with  a  short  white  frock  and  long  slender 
black  legs.  The  bicycling  was  on  the  other  side  of 
the  lake  and  race  course,  just  in  front  of  the  buildings. 
The  citizens  of  Pompeii  were  standing  about  to  watch 
it,  with  no  apparent  surprise  at  the  sight  of  an  inven 
tion  two  thousand  years  after  their  day.  Two  men 
rode  round  on  a  bicycle ;  then  another  mounted  to 
their  shoulders ;  then  the  little  girl  climbed  up  till 
she  sat  on  his  shoulders.  Then  she  gave  an  exhibi 
tion  ride  alone.  She  did  a  number  of  pretty  tricks, 
sat  side-saddle  running  the  machine  with  one  leg, 
jumped  off  and  on  again  while  the  bicycle  was  run 
ning  at  full  speed,  and  finally  rode  up  to  a  man  who 
lifted  her,  machine  and  all,  up  into  the  air.  where  she 
still  continued  to  ply  her  little  pedals  vigorously, 
much  to  the  amusement  of  the  spectators. 

Soon  after  this  it  was  half -past  nine,  and  observant 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  109 

spectators  noticed  a  flame  coming  out  of  Vesuvius, 
which  was  well  represented  (in  pasteboard,  I  suppose) 
directly  behind  the  ill-fated  city.  A  moment  later 
lloman  candles  began  to  shoot  out  of  the  crater,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  buildings  of  Pompeii  began  to 
burn  and  fall  to  the  ground.  The  inhabitants,  who 
were,  as  I  understand,  about  to  make  a  human  sacrifice 
of  some  Christians,  were  much  dismayed  and  rushed 
away.  But  we  paid  them  no  attention ;  for  we  were 
looking  at  the  fireworks,  all  of  which  were  startling 
and  some  beautiful.  The  prettiest  were  the  rockets 
which  exploded  and  gave  out  splendid  showers  of 
colored  stars.  Then  there  were  pin-wheels  which 
shot  to  and  fro  above  the  surface  of  the  pond,  and 
some  strange  things  were  thrown  into  the  water  that 
kept  spitting  out  fire.  A  great  elephant  was  exhib 
ited,  made  in  outline  with  fireworks,  and  moved  by 
some  arrangement  so  that  he  seemed  to  walk  along 
the  side  of  the  track  as  far  as  the  turn,  where  he 
slowly  burnt  out. 

The  night  happened  to  be  "Newspaper  Night,"  so 
that  there  were  two  ridiculous  "  set "  pieces  in  honor 
of  the  newspapers,  one  representing  a  prominent 
editor.  After  this  a  few  more  rockets,  and  then  the 
great  crowd  filed  out.  I  have  since  noticed  in  the 
newspapers  that  almost  every  night  seems  to  be 
somebody's  night,  either  "  Newspaper,"  "  Cadet/'  or 
something  of  that  kind.  I  cannot  but  hope  they  will 
have  a  night  for  our  company  and  send  us  all  "  dead 
head "  tickets.  Ask  Nahum  if  he  knows  what  a 
"  dead  head  "  is.  I  am  afraid  it  will  not  do  for  him 
to  read  this  on  the  conversation  day  at  the  High 
School,  for  they  will  think  his  brother  is  engaged  in 
very  frivolous  amusements. 

CAMBRIDGE,  11.30  P.M. 

I  still  live,  and  that  is  a  wonder.  We  have  had  a 
field-day  of  it  indeed.  At  one  time  I  thought  it 


110  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

would  have  been  better  had  I  taken  the  whole  party 
of  my  emigrants  and  encamped  on  Boston  Common, 
with  them.  Then  the  Boston  people  would  have 
found  out  that  they  had  the  arrival  of  a  new  colony 
here.  But  at  this  moment  all  my  people  are  in  bed 
somewhere,  though  I  will  not  swear  that  Mrs.  Smith 
has  not  Mrs.  Brown's  baby  without  knowing  it,  and 
Mrs.  Brown  Mrs.  Smith's.  It  has  been  the  hardest 
work  I  ever  did ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  it  has  been 
the  funniest  day.  If  I  ever  write  a  farce,  it  shall 
turn  on  the  adventures  of  such  a  transmigration. 
The  incidents  shall  be  the  loss  and  recoveries  of 
babies  and  baggage  by  the  emigrants. 

And  the  difficulty  mostly  came  from  a  piece  of 
over-caution, — as,  I  believe,  usually  happens.  Of 
course  the  Company  wanted  to  do  everything  to  make 
it  easy,  and  as  here  were  more  than  two  hundred 
people  to  move,  —  more  than  half  of  them  children,  — 
it  occurred  to  the  president,  but  only  at  the  last 
moment,  to  ask  to  have  a  special  train  made  up  at 
Leeds.  Of  course  this  was  easily  done,  and  in  the 
separate  train  they  came.  But  the  railroad  people 
rated  it  only  as  a  separate  block  of  what  they  call 
the  "  Thunder  Express."  Nobody  told  us  at  the  new 
office  that  there  was  any  separate  block  or  special 
express.  Only  we  were  told  to  be  ready  at  the  sta 
tion  at  11.30  prompt  to  meet  the  whole  party  and  to 
tell  them,  men,  women,  and  children,  where  they  were 
to  go.  So  we  were.  The  regular  train  came  —  and 
not  one  of  our  people  ! 

Nobody  at  the  station  seemed  to  know  or  care 
where  our  people  were.  I  supposed  they  had  had  a 
change  of  heart  of  some  sort,  and  so,  leaving  the  rest 
with  my  lists  at  the  station,  I  slammed  back  in  a  cab 
to  the  office  to  telephone  on  our  own  wire  to  Leeds. 
They  said  at  once  that  the  people  had  all  started.  I 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  Ill 

slammed  back  to  the  station,  and  sure  enough,  there 
they  all  were,  dividing  themselves  as  they  could  to 
their  different  homes.  John  was  standing  on  a  trunk 
with  my  list.  We  had  engaged  thirty-five  cabs  and 
hacks,  and  the  cabmen  were  waiting  to  be  told  where 
to  drive.  Sometimes  it  was  to  other  stations,  and 
sometimes  it  was  direct  to  the  houses  which  had  been 
hired.  It  would  have  been  a  deal  easier  had  our 
company  built  thirty-five  houses  for  them  and  been 
done  with  it.  But  you  know  they  would  not  like 
that  near  so  well. 

Here  it  was  that  the  change  of  babies  undoubtedly 
took  place.  The  novels  of  twenty  years  hence  will 
turn  on  these  changes.  You  see  we  had  thirty-five 
mothers,  thirty-five  fathers,  and  more  than  a  hundred 
children.  Now  it  is  impossible,  you  know,  that  those 
mothers  could  have  known  all  their  babies,  they 
looked  so  exactly  alike.  Anyway,  the  great  row  of 
the  day,  which  has  taken  more  telephoning  and  cab- 
hire  and  scolding,  not  to  say  swearing,  and  in  the  end 
rejoicing,  belonged  to  this  baby  business.  I  was 
mystified  for  a  few  hours,  but  now  I  understand  it  all. 
And  I  will  relieve  you  at  once  by  telling  you  that  Mrs. 
Outlake  is  all  right,  and,  I  suppose,  has  her  baby  in 
her  arms.  It  would  have  been  better  had  he  been  in 
her  arms  at  noon  to-day.  But  he  was  not.  He  was 
in  the  arms  of  a  certain  Bridget,  a  nice,  plump  young 
Irishwoman,  just  over.  My  Russian  Bear  met  them 
as  they  got  out  of  the  car.  He  was  most  anxious  to 
be  of  use.  "  Name  !  "  says  he  to  her.  "  Vot  ish  your 
name  ?  "  "  Bridget,"  said  the  girl,  courtesying.  Then 
he  thought  aloud,  in  Russian,  I  suppose,  for  he  always 
does.  He  looked  on  the  printed  alphabetical  list 
which  the  cabman  had.  He  spelled  B-r-i-g  —  satisfied 
himself  that  that  this  spelt  "Bridge  "  — h-t,  said  that 
this  would  do  for  "  et,"  and  took  her  in  triumph  at 


112  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

once,  before  anybody  saw  him,  to  the  cab  —  such  fun 
—  of  our  Mr.  Bright,  the  first  cashier,  who  had  out  of 
grandeur  and  courtesy  and  pure  kindness  come  down 
to  see  the  thing.  He  had  gone  up  into  the  superin 
tendent's  office,  and  had  handed  the  Bear  two  or  three 
of  his  cards,  if  he  wanted  to  send  any  one  to  inquire 
for  him. 

My  dear  Mother,  I  cannot  make  you  see  the  fun  of 
this !  This  Mr.  Bright  is  the  one  swell  man  in  our 
office.  He  is  very  much  of  a  bachelor.  He  has  the 
most  elegant  rooms  in  the  Romeo,  which  is  the  most 
swell  bachelors'  hotel  in  Boston.  With  his  card,  my 
friend  the  Bear  and  Bridget  go  out  to  the  street,  and 
Bear  shows  the  card  to  the  policeman  who  directed 
our  thirty-five  carriages.  He  calls  Mr.  Bright's  cab, 
which  was  not  one  of  them.  The  cabman  takes  the 
card,  takes  Bridget,  takes  the  baby,  and  carries  them 
to  the  Romeo. 

I  meanwhile  return  to  the  station,  as  I  tell  you. 
As  it  happens,  I  send  the  Bear  to  South  Boston 
Heights  at  once  with  a  party.  Soon  I  hear  that  Mrs. 
Outlake's  baby  is  lost,  and  Bridget  is  lost.  Soon  all 
the  women  think  all  their  babies  are  lost  or  will  be. 
The  excitement  spreads.  The  emigrants  are  greatly 
discouraged,  Mrs.  Outlake  with  reason.  Mr.  Bright 
comes  downstairs,  finds  his  cab  has  gone,  and  goes 
back  to  the  office.  Rumors  of  the  row  at  the  station 
do  not  ascend  into  the  sacred  private  room  of  our 
chief  cashier.  It  is  not  till  six  in  the  evening,  when 
he  returns  to  the  quiet  of  the  Romeo  to  dress  for  an. 
evening  party,  that  the  poor  man  finds  to  his  dismay 
Bridget  and  her  baby  sitting  in  his  finest  easy  chair, 
looking  out  on  the  baby -wagons  in  Arbella  Square ! 

Imagine  his  dismay.  Imagine  my  relief  when  I 
get  a  telephone  from  the  office,  at  the  Providence 
Railroad  station,  where  I  am  taking  a  hasty  plate  of 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  113 

soup  and  wondering  where  in  thunder  that  Outlake 
baby  can  be.  Imagine  the  relief  of  the  station 
masters  of  the  different  police  stations,  and  the  satis 
faction  of  our  thirty-five  hack-drivers  and  cabmen, 
each  one  of  whom  had  been  charged  with  eating  the 
baby.  You  see  it  all  came  from  Mr.  Bright 's  being 
so  grand  as  to  hire  a  cab  to  go  down  there.  If  he 
had  gone,  as  I  did,  on  a  street  car  there  would  have 
been  no  baby  lost  and  none  found. 


Saturday  Afternoon. 

IsTow  that  the  babies  are  most  of  them  in  their 
right  homes,  I  can  go  on  with  what  I  was  saying  to 
Nahum.  If  he  wants  to  read  this  at  the  High  School, 
so  that  they  shall  think  that  I  am  gaining  the  advan 
tages  of  a  great  city,  I  should  like  to  tell  about  the 
afternoon  I  spent  at  the  Xatural  History  Booms. 
There  was  really  nothing  at  the  office ;  it  was  a  sultry 
afternoon,  and  out  of  pure  pity  the  chief  sent  us 
youngsters  off  at  three  o'clock.  He  said  that  he  had 
a  long  letter  to  write,  and  it  was  nonsense  for  us  to 
sit  kicking  our  heels  there.  Walter  seized  his  tennis 
racket  at  once  and  went  out  to  Longwood,  to  take  his 
chances  as  a  substitute  in  a  match  there,  where  he  knew 
some  of  the  fellows.  But  I  had  no  chances  in  any 
match,  and  indeed  my  racket  was  at  Cambridge.  So 
I  tried  the  fortunes  of  a  "  child  of  the  public,"  which 
is  what  I  call  myself,  and  went  up  to  the  Natural 
History  Museum. 

It  is  just  beyond  the  Public  Garden,  which  I  know 
you  remember,  where  I  am  going  to  make  you  come 
down  some  day  and  see  what  they  call  the  floral 
effects  with  me.  It  seemed  funny  enough  to  be  going 
to  such  a  place  merely  to  kill  time,  and  I  could  not 
but  wish  that  some  of  the  children  had  been  with  me. 


114  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

You  always  see  a  good  many  nice  children  there. 
And  in  winter  they  have  a  guide  there,  a  gentlemanly 
looking  fellow,  who  has  a  badge  on  to  show  that  he  is 
a  public  guide,  and  it  is  his  business  to  take  you  about, 
particularly  if  you  are  a  woman  or  a  child,  and  to 
tell  what  he  thinks  you  had  better  know  about  the 
collection.  He  does  not  take  you  if  you  do  not  want 
to  have  him,  but  after  you  have  seen  what  a  nice 
fellow  he  is,  you  do  want  him.  I  always  find  I  drift 
into  the  bird  room.  I  am  wretched  about  natural 
history,  as  you  know ;  but  I  can  tell  the  difference 
between  blue  and  black,  and  the  humming-birds  and 
the  other  bright-colored  birds  please  me,  if  merely 
as  so  many  bits  of  color.  I  wish  I  could  make  all 
womankind  understand  that  the  birds  are  a  great  deal 
prettier  here  than  they  are  when  they  have  them  on 
their  bonnets.  But  I  am  afraid  that  the  wave  of  public 
opinion  is  going  a  little  backward  in  that  business. 

Nahum  would  delight  in  the  mammoth,  and  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  could  not  get  him  a  special  permit  to 
ride  on  the  mammoth's  back.  In  each  of  the  large 
rooms  there  are  one  or  more  of  these  gigantic  skeletons, 
—  I  do  not  mean  of  mammoths,  for  sometimes  they 
are  of  other  creatures,  —  but  they  are  the  solid  centres 
of  the  concern.  I  met  Mr.  Woodford,  a  gentleman 
whom  we  sometimes  see  at  the  office,  who  is  half  a 
man  of  science  and  half  a  man  of  business  and  half  a 
man  of  leisure,  like  a  good  many  of  these  Boston  men, 
and  he  told  me  what  is  a  pet  idea  of  his  for  the  Frog 
Pond.  I  cannot  help  hoping  that  they  may  carry  it 
out.  He  wants  to  have,  not  a  bronze  statue  of  a  frog 
in  the  middle  of  the  Frog  Pond,  but  a  real  cast  from 
one  of  the  antediluvian  monsters,  one  of  those  nice  old 
creatures,  half  snake,  half  alligator,  and  half  griffin,  of 
which  you  see  dreadful  pictures  in  the  natural  history 
books.  You  know  you  could  have  him  right  in  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  115 

middle  of  the  Frog  Pond,  with,  his  horrid  old  neck 
towering  up  seventy  or  eighty  feet  into  the  air  and 
bending  over  there,  as  if  he  were  going  to  catch  any 
naughty  boy  or  girl  whom  he  saw  disporting  in  an 
irregular  manner  upon  the  bank.  I  suppose  that  will 
be  the  way  in  which  the  twentieth  century  will  teach 
natural  history  to  children. 

When  you  go  in  at  the  door  of  the  Natural  History 
Museum,  if  somebody  has  told  you  where  to  look,  you 
turn  to  the  right  and  walk  across  the  room,  and  there 
you  see  a  gilt  orange,  or  something  about  the  size  of 
a  gilt  orange.  This  represents  the  sun.  Then  you 
walk  back  to  the  extreme  left  of  the  great  hall,  and 
there  is  a  little  bit  of  a  speck  which  represents  the 
earth.  And  these  two  are  to  give  you  a  sort  of 
measure-staff,  as  the  Germans  say,  by  which  you  can 
know  how  big  is  the  solar  system  and  how  big  the 
earth  on  which  you  live.  You  see  it  is  for  fear  you 
should  be  too  grand.  This  little  speck  holds  the  same 
proportion  to  the  orange  that  the  earth  does  to  the 
sun,  and  the  long  walk  from  the  right  to  the  left  of 
the  hall  represents  the  ninety-two  millions  of  miles, 
more  or  less,  between  us  and  the  sun.  After  you  have 
gained  this  measuring-staff,  by  which  you  are  to  com 
pare  humming-birds  and  mammoths,  you  go  in.  This 
is  one  of  those  places,  I  should  like  to  say  also,  where 
you  can  sit  down  and  rest  yourself,  if  you  are  tired. 
Nobody  molests  you  nor  makes  you  afraid,  and  if  you 
have  seen  all  the  beasts  and  birds  and  fishes  and 
insects  and  snakes  and  polyps  and  mollusks  that  you 
want  to,  you  sit  down  in  a  comfortable  chair,  and  I 
will  not  say  that  I  have  not  seen  people  go  to  sleep 
there. 

Just  as  I  came  out,  while  I  was  hesitating  whether 
to  go  to  Cambridge  or  to  the  Public  Library,  my  Miss 
Sandford  passed  by.  I  thought  she  was  coming  in  j 


116  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

but  she  turned,  and,  as  if  she  were  afraid  of  rain, 
went  off  again ;  and  I  was  a  little  too  shy  to  join  her 
and  walk  home  with  her.  If  I  had  done  so,  I  should 
have  known  where  she  lives.  I  meet  her  in  such  odd 
places  and  always  just  without  speaking  to  her  that  I 
really  should  like  to  have  an  opportunity  to  call  in 
form  and  leave  a  card.  But  nothing  happened  that 
day. 


WINDSOR  HOTEL,  WINDSOR,  N.  B.  Aug.  4,  '91. 

What  happened  the  next  day  was  very  curious. 
For  the  next  morning  —  all  this  is  last  week  —  I  had 
in  the  afternoon  to  go  up  to  the  State  House  to  see 
about  the  certificate  of  our  corporation.  No  matter 
what  it  was,  but  it  was  supposed  that  they  had  made 
some  mistake  about  our  taxable  property.  I  went  in, 
and  with  a  nice  lady  I  found  there,  overhauled  the 
whole  concern  and  was  coming  out  with  my  docu 
ments,  when  I  met  a  wild  little  boy,  who  might  have 
been  a  hoodlum,  but  who  seemed  to  be  in  great  dis 
tress.  He  rushed  right  up  to  me  and  said,  "  Mister, 
do  you  belong  here  ?  "  I  said  no,  I  did  n't  belong 
here ;  but  what  was  the  matter  ?  "  Why,"  said  he, 
"  they  've  locked  her  up ! "  "  Whom  have  they  locked 
up  ?  "  "  The  teacher !  She 's  locked  upstairs  and  I 
can't  get  the  key."  "  Who 's  the  teacher  ?  "  said  I. 
"The  teacher?"  said  he,  "she's  Jamaica  Ginger  — 
no,  she  is  n't  Jamaica  Ginger,  she  's  Miss  Sandford." 
This  name  startled  me,  because,  as  I  said,  I  met  my 
Miss  Sandford  the  day  before  and  had  been  wondering 
where  she  lived,  and  I  did  not  suppose  she  lived  at 
the  State  House.  It  seemed  to  me  so  queer  that  this 
boy  should  have  another  Miss  Sandford,  and  that  he 
should  be  at  a  loss  to  get  her  out  from  the  place  she 
was  in.  However,  I  soothed  him  down  and  made  him 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  117 

tell  me  about  it.  It  seemed  that  he  had  been  up  in 
the  top  of  the  State  House  with  his  teacher,  and  by 
some  accident  she  was  locked  in,  in  the  cupola,  he 
said,  and  I  supposed  it  was  so. 

I  went  and  found  the  sergeant-at-arms,  and  he  sent 
me,  with  the  proper  janitor,  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  The  boy  explained  again  that  they  had  been 
up  to  the  cupola  to  see  the  view ;  he  had  come  run 
ning  down  first  and  had  missed  his  teacher.  When 
he  went  back  the  door  was  locked.  He  could  hear  his 
teacher  on  the  other  side  of  the  door,  and  she  had 
told  him  to  go  and  find  some  one  to  unlock  the  door. 
But  when  he  came  down,  he  had  lost  his  way  among 
the  staircases  and  so  ran  against  me  first  of  all.  As 
we  were  on  our  way  up  to  relieve  her,  I  wondered 
very  much  whether  she  would  prove  to  be  my  Miss 
Sandford.  The  janitor  went  up,  not  overwillingly,  to 
tell  you  the  truth,  and  went  to  the  door  and  opened 
it,  and  there  was  no  one  there,  not  even  a  cat  or  a  rat. 
The  boy  was  very  anxious  to  go  on  up  into  the  cupola, 
but  that  seemed  to  be  nonsense.  His  teacher  would 
never  have  retired  there.  The  janitor  gave  him  an 
awful  blowing-up  for  taking  us  up  all  those  stairs  for 
nothing,  and  that  was  the  end  of  it.  I  inquired  of 
the  boy  where  his  teacher  lived,  and  he  did  not  know. 
He  only  knew  that  she  was  a  teacher  in  one  of  the 
vacation  schools,  of  which  you  have  heard  in  the 
newspapers.  I  was  very  curious,  of  course,  to  know 
whether  she  had  flown  out  of  the  window  as  she 
would  have  done  in  a  fairy  story,  or  indeed  whether 
she  were  not  dying  or  faint  in  that  great  dome,  which 
is  all  empty  —  so  much  lost  space.  If  there  had  been 
a  bell  in  the  State  House  she  could  have  rung  it,  as 
Goody  Two  Shoes  did ;  but  there  is  no  bell. 

I  made  the  boy  tell  me  where  the  school  is  and  was 
going  there  the  next  morning.  But  the  next  morning 


118  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

they  sent  me  down  here  to  New  Brunswick  again  on 
that  business  about  the  cherry  wood,  and  I  am  writing 
this  letter  now  in  the  Windsor  Hotel,  as  you  see.  So 
I  do  not  know  what  has  become  of  the  girl.  She  may 
be  dead  and  she  may  be  alive.  And  I  do  not  know  at 
all  whether  she  is  my  Miss  Sandford. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  119 


CHAPTER   TEXTH. 

XII. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  August  10,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  believe  I  have  a  little  ad 
venture  to  tell  you;  at  least  it  seemed  like  one 
while  it  was  going  on,  though  you  may  say  it  did  not 
amount  to  anything.  But  for  a  few  minutes  I  did 
have  a  little  fright,  with  a  touch  of  that  fear  of  hav 
ing  been  left  all  alone  in  the  world  that,  I  suppose, 
makes  up  a  great  part  of  the  terrors  of  children. 
This  was  how  it  came  about.  Anna  and  I  had  been 
planning  to  go  to  the  cupola  of  the  State  House  some 
afternoon,  to  see  the  view  from  the  very  top  of  the 
building,  and  I  decided  to  ask  one  of  the  boys  in  my 
class  to  go  with  us.  I  happened  one  day  to  have 
quite  a  talk  about  it  with  a  harum-scarum  little  youth 
—  of  course  named  Mike  —  and  he  declared  he  knew 
all  about  it  and  would  show  us  the  way,  and  that  he 
had  been  up  and  down  two  or  three  times  in  one  after 
noon.  So  we  met  him  by  agreement  on  the  steps  of 
the  State  House  one  day,  not  much  expecting  to  find 
him  there  at  the  appointed  time.  But  there  he  was, 
and  he  really  knew  the  names  of  the  statues  that 
stand  in  front  of  the  building.  We  did  not  need  his 
introduction  much  after  we  were  inside,  for  we  were 
shown  about  with  great  distinction,  actually  seeing 
the  celebrated  codfish  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives,  and  being  shown  the  outside  of  the  Governor's 


120  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

room  and  the  other  offices,  besides  being  taken  up  and 
down  in  elevators. 

Finally  we  mounted  the  stairs  into  the  "  gilded 
dome,"  and  were  truly  repaid  for  the  climb  by  the 
glorious  view.  I  ought  to  stop  and  tell  you  all  about 
it ;  and  I  will  say  that  it  satisfied  my  heart's  desires 
in  its  pictures  of  the  harbor  and  the  gay  scene  of 
ships  and  boats  and  of  the  Charles  River  and  the 
numerous  bridges  that  seem  to  make  "  mainland "  of 
a  greater  part  of  it,  with  Bunker  Hill  not  far  away, 
that  we  must  climb  sometime.  Well,  we  suddenly 
found  that  the  time  was  slipping  away,  and  Anna 
wanted  to  go  somewhere  for  an  errand  on  Winter 
Street  and  left  first,  I  agreeing  to  meet  her  on  the 
Common  at  an  appointed  place.  What  would  she 
have  done  if  I  had  not  met  her ! 

For  I  lingered  after  she  left ;  and  even  after  Mike 
and  I  had  decided  to  go  down,  I  stopped  to  see  if  it 
were  possible  that  there  was  an  ocean  steamer  visible 
far  away  in  the  offing.  Mike  went  scampering  down 
in  front  of  me,  half  a  dozen  steps  at  a  time,  and  I,  at 
last,  followed  him,  hearing  his  footsteps  echoing  far 
below. 

What  was  my  horror,  when  I  reached  the  foot  of 
the  cupola  stairway,  to  find  a  door  shut  across  at  the 
bottom,  and  when  I  tried  to  open  it,  I  found  it  was 
locked !  Still  I  was  not  much  frightened  at  first,  as 
I  supposed  Mike  would  come  back  for  me,  and  I 
waited  a  few  minutes,  shaking  the  door,  however,  and 
trying  to  open  it.  Presently  I  thought  that  I  heard 
steps  outside,  so  then  I  pounded  on  the  door  with  my 
parasol,  and  shook  the  handle  again  —  with  success  ; 
for  some  one  put  a  key  in  the  door  outside  and 
opened  it.  There  was  a  pleasant-looking  gentleman 
who,  it  seemed,  had  been  coming  out  of  one  of  the 
offices  below  and  had  heard  my  knocking,  and  happily 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  121 

he  had  a  key  to  the  door.  He  might  have  been  one 
of  the  clerks  or  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  for  his 
politeness  ;  for  he  showed  me  downstairs,  after  inquir 
ing  if  any  one  else  was  left  in  the  cupola,  before  he 
locked  the  door  again.  I  think  he  took  me  down 
some  short  way,  and  I  lingered  awhile  in  the  entrance 
hall  below,  looking  for  Mike,  but  could  see  nothing  of 
him.  Nor  did  he  appear  as  I  wandered  slowly  down 
the  steps.  I  was  just  turning  away  to  cross  the 
Common,  when  I  looked  back  once  more,  to  see  a 
figure  of  a  small  boy  flying  to  meet  me  and  waving 
his  arms  in  the  air.  It  was  my  Mike,  who  came  up 
to  me  breathless,  not  at  all  sure  that  it  was  I,  but 
stammering  out  a  succession  of  questions,  and  won 
dering  how  I  came  down  from  the  cupola.  And  had 
I  seen  "  the  gentleman,"  and  should  he  go  back  and 
tell  him? 

It  was  sometime  before  I  could  find  out  that  "  the 
gentleman "  was  somebody  he  had  fallen  upon  when 
he  discovered  I  was  probably  locked  in  the  cupola. 
As  I  supposed,  he  had  run  down,  quick  as  a  shot,  from 
the  cupola  to  the  lower  front  hall  of  the  building, 
where  he  waited  for  me  when  he  found  I  had  not 
followed  him.  He  flew  back  to  find  that  the  door 
was  locked,  and  then  hurried  away  to  look  for  me 
below,  meeting  a  gentleman  whom  he  interested  in 
his  search  for  the  janitor,  whom  they  found  at  last 
and  when  they  had  mounted  the  stairs  and  opener 
the  door,  of  course  I  was  gone,  and  the  janitor  very 
mad  apparently.  Then  Mike  went  on  to  tell  how 
"  the  gentleman  "  said  he  knew  Miss  Sandford,  and 
how  his  name  was  Merton,  because  he  heard  another 
"gent"  call  him  so,  and  how  Mr.  Merton  said  he 
should  call  the  next  day  at  the  school  to  find  out  if 
Miss  Sandford  had  flown  out  of  the  window ;  for  Mike 
had  told  him  Miss  Sandford  was  the  teacher.  So  I 


122  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

was  in  a  flutter  the  next  morning  at  the  school,  but 
no  Mr.  Merton  appeared,  and  I  can't  find  out  how 
much  of  Mike's  story  is  correct,  and  it  all  seems 
odd. 

This  incident  made  me  a  little  provoked  at  my 
stupidity  the  day  before  it  happened.  I  was  passing 
by  the  Natural  History  Museum  and  had  determined 
to  look  in  for  a  few  moments,  but  was  hesitating 
whether  I  would  go  then  or  wait  for  Anna  some  day, 
when  I  saw  this  very  Mr.  Merton  standing  on  the 
upper  step.  I  had  a  sudden  foolish  feeling  of  not 
wishing  to  seem  to  go  and  meet  him,  and  I  turned 
away,  much  disgusted  with  myself  afterwards,  when  I 
began  to  think  about  it ;  for  I  should  like  to  have 
asked  him  many  questions,  —  how  he  recovered  himself 
that  afternoon  when  his  boat  upset  in  the  harbor,  and 
about  the  white  bandage  on  his  head ;  and  it  was  so 
stupid  of  me  to  have  avoided  him  in  this  way. 

For  meanwhile  I  have  learned  something  about 
him.  Don't  you  remember  a  Harry  Merton  that  came 
over  to  the  base-ball  match  at  Astney  last  summer? 
I  was  to  have  gone,  but  it  turned  up  we  had  a  house 
full  of  friends,  and  I  sent  off  the  Whitney  girls  in  our 
wagon  instead  of  going  myself.  And  Jack  and  the 
other  boys  went,  and  I  stayed  at  home  lamenting. 
When  they  came  back  Caroline  had  a  great  deal  to 
say  about  this  Harry  Merton  —  for  I  am  very  sure  it 
was  he  —  and  my  mother  knew  all  about  his  family, 
and  we  had  a  great  talk  about  him ;  and  there  was  a 
plan  of  having  him  over  to  visit  us.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  beginning  of  the  series  of  adventures  that 
prevents  us  from  meeting.  I  am  most  provoked  with 
myself. 

All  of  which  reminds  me  of  last  summer,  and  I  will 
answer  some  of  your  questions  about  the  dear  old 
home  at  Astney.  Yes,  it  is  let  for  the  summer,  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  123 

my  father  and  mother  have  moved  away.  It  makes 
me  melancholy  to  think  of  it,  so  I  have  managed  to 
avoid  the  subject.  But  this  spring,  in  the  family 
councils,  it  was  decided  we  must  economize  and  earn 
money  as  well  as  save  it.  Why  not  let  the  house  ? 
everybody  asked.  It  was  soon  found  that  we  could 
let  it  to  some  New  York  artists  and  very  favorably, 
and  that  my  mother  and  father  could  go  to  my  grand 
mother's  down  in  the  village.  Uncle  Enos  and  his 
wife  are  there,  to  be  sure,  but  they  have  no  children, 
and  there  is  a  large  house,  much  unoccupied,  and  I 
might  have  gone  there  too.  But  I  had  planned,  you 
know,  coming  to  Boston  for  university  education  ;  and 
I  decided  I  might  as  well  start  a  little  earlier,  if  I 
could  do  it  economically  ;  and  Aunt  Martha's  kindness 
in  inviting  me  here  has  helped  me  in  this. 

It  is  hardest  for  my  mother ;  for  Uncle  Enos  and 
his  wife  are  regular  workers  and  they  leave  her  noth 
ing  to  do,  and  she  has  always  been  used  to  being  at 
the  head  of  things,  with  a  house  and  a  large  farm  to 
oversee ;  and  I  am  very  sure  it  is  hard  for  her  to  have 
anybody  else  in  our  dear  old  house  on  the  slope  of  the 
hills.  I  wish  that  Uncle  Silas,  who  has  managed  to 
lose  all  my  father's  little  property  in  his  speculations 
—  I  wish  that  he  could  have  had  half  the  head  for 
economizing  that  Uncle  Enos  has.  They  write  me 
that  the  New  York  artists  admire  the  dear  old  house, 
and  that  maybe  they  will  want  to  buy  it.  But  I  have 
wild  ideas  of  earning  a  great  deal  of  money,  with  the 
help  of  my  brother  Jack  and  the  younger  boys  ;  for  I 
can't  bear  to  think  of  its  passing  out  of  the  family. 

Yet,  I  can't  say  that  I  am  low-spirited  on  the  sub 
ject.  I  think  the  change  of  coming  here  has  been 
good  for  me.  I  am  gaining  some  idea  of  how  different 
people  live,  the  rich  people  away  from  their  large 
deserted  houses,  enjoying  themselves  in  the  deserted 


124  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

farmhouses  on  the  hillsides,  while  down  in  the  narrow 
streets  are  crowded,  alas !  men,  women,  and  children. 
But  there  are  compensations  for  all  of  it ;  so  I  try  to 
console  myself,  and  I  am  learning  what  a  great  city 
can  do  in  the  way  of  teaching  and  education,  as  well 
as  in  its  care  for  the  sick  and  poor. 

I  have  really  begun  on  my  French  lessons,  and 
every  afternoon — with  few  exceptions  —  I  go  with 
Anna  to  the  Berlitz  School  on  Tremont  Street,  in 
some  large,  airy  rooms  near  the  top  of  the  building. 
We  begin  by  talking  French  directly,  if  you  can  be 
lieve  this  of  your  friend.  But  there  are  great  advan 
tages  in  this  summer  school ;  for,  as  the  class  is  not 
large,  we  have  the  more  benefit  of  the  professor's  in 
structions.  He  is  very  painstaking,  and  he  will  not 
let  a  single  error  pass  in  pronunciation  or  grammati 
cal  construction ;  and  he  takes  a  personal  interest  in 
each  of  us.  The  method  is  very  systematic  and  prac 
tical  and  not  a  word  of  English  is  spoken  in  the  class. 
We  are  taught  from  little  text-books,  where  the  exer 
cises  are  very  bright  and  really  interesting.  The  pro 
fessor  brings  pictures  or  objects  to  represent  the 
things  spoken  of  in  the  lesson,  and  he  talked  with  us 
about  them  in  the  very  first  lesson,  avoiding  the  diffi 
cult  things,  so  that  at  the  very  beginning  we  were 
quite  surprised  how  many  every-day  sentences  we 
could  make.  The  teacher  leads  us,  indeed,  into  a 
variety  of  conversation  which  is  really  agreeable.  We 
propose  keeping  this  up  through  the  winter,  and  we 
find  it  now  a  delightful  occupation  for  an  afternoon. 

We  have  found  a  rival  to  our  delight  in  these  les 
sons,  and  that  is  in  the  Old  South  Lectures.  They 
are  given  Wednesday  afternoons  at  the  Old  South 
Meeting-House,  so  that  I  have  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  a  "truly"  old  meeting-house.  I  found  Miss 
Dexter  was  feeling  rather  envious  of  its  distinction, 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  125 

which  she  would  like  to  have  claimed  for  her  beloved 
Brattle  Street  Church.  Anna  and  I  went  early  one 
afternoon,  thinking  we  could  go  about  the  church  and 
see  some  of  the  "  antiquities  "  that  are  exhibited  there. 
But  we  found  already  a  crowd  gathering  for  the  seats. 
The  subject,  you  will  see,  takes  up  just  the  period  of 
history  that  you  know  I  am  most  interested  in.  It 
was  the  beloved  Dr.  Hedge  who  gave  the  suggestion  to 
me,  a  year  or  two  ago,  when  I  was  planning  a  study 
of  history,  that  I  should  begin  at  the  time  of  the  Cru 
sades,  as  being  the  "  New  Birth  of  the  World,"  when 
the  great  nations  of  Europe  were  just  dividing  into 
separate  existence.  So  imagine  my  pleasure  to  find 
that  this  was  to  be  the  subject  of  the  Old  South  course 
of  lectures.  A  friend  has  given  us  some  tickets,  and 
the  first  lecture  we  heard  was  exceedingly  interesting, 
given  by  Professor  Marshall  S.  Snow  of  St.  Louis,  on 
"  The  Builders  of  the  Cathedrals."  The  lecturer  was 
very  brilliant  and  the  story  admirably  told,  beginning 
with  a  picturesque  description  of  the  great  towers  of 
the  Cologne  Cathedral.  It  was  exactly  what  we 
wanted  to  hear  and  know,  and  the  whole  lecture  gave 
a  splendid  picture  of  the  time ;  and  you  somehow  felt 
as  if  you  were  starting  at  the  beginning  of  all  modern 
history  and  could  already  begin  to  understand  what 
came  afterwards.  Why,  Anna  and  I  were  so  inspired 
by  it  that  we  went  directly  to  the  Public  Library,  iny 
first  visit. 

I  remember  that  summer  in  Astney,  when  we  were 
talking  over  a  winter  of  study,  Caroline  and  the  other 
girls  all  said  that  it  was  not  so  easy  to  find  time  in 
Boston  for  all  the  study  I  was  planning,  and  they 
quite  envied  me  my  long,  uninterrupted  winter  even 
ings  at  home.  I  tried  to  explain  that  we  were  not  so 
terribly  uninterrupted  at  home,  and  that  we  do  have 
our  evening  entertainments,  our  teas  out,  occasional 


126  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

dances  at  the  hall,  and  famous  lecturers  from  Boston 
and  elsewhere,  and  music  now  and  then.  Still,  I  had 
to  confess  that  we  also  have  quiet  hours  for  study  and 
reading,  only  we  do  not,  alas  !  have  the  books  to  read ; 
and  what  sort  of  use  to  us  is  all  this  time,  if  we  can't 
find  our  books  and  have  no  libraries  even,  to  suggest 
to  us  what  to  read. 

But  now  I  have  been  in  Boston  all  this  time,  and  I 
am  ashamed  to  say  that  I  had  not  even  been  into  the 
Public  Library.  I  have  seen  the  outside  of  the  beau 
tiful  new  library  building,  that  is  to  be  finished  some 
time  or  other,  and  I  have  seen  the  outside  of  the 
Boston  Athenaeum ;  but  I  have  not  done  one  thing  yet 
about  "  visiting  the  public  institutions,"  and  I  there 
fore  learned  only  the  other  day  what  a  delight  it  is 
to  be  able  to  go  up  to  the  quiet  rooms  of  the  Public 
Library,  with  the  consciousness  that  you  can  ask  for 
any  book  you  please  and  your  wants  will  be  gratified. 
Anna,  with  the  advantages  of  an  old  inhabitant,  knew 
how  to  take  me  into  one  of  the  retired  rooms  at  the 
back  of  the  building.  She  showed  me  the  reading- 
rooms  below,  and  she  took  me  through  the  library  up 
stairs,  without  waiting  to  explain  to  me  the  methods 
of  getting  a  card  for  taking  out  books,  and  then  seated 
me  at  a  large  table.  Here,  after  some  inquiries,  large 
volumes  of  prints  and  engravings  were  brought,  and 
we  could  look  up  exactly  the  things  we  wanted  and 
study  up  the  difference  in  the  architectural  styles  that 
Professor  Snow  had  been  explaining  to  us,  all  while  it 
was  fresh  in  our  minds.  It  seemed  really  as  if  we 
were  sitting  in  some  friend's  library ;  only  here  the 
shelves  of  books  were  inexhaustible,  and  we  had  such 
kindly  help  and  suggestions  of  new  volumes  that  we 
had  known  nothing  of,  that  the  afternoon  was  quite 
too  short,  and,  indeed,  I  wished  now  I  could  bring  the 
leisure  of  our  quiet  country  days  to  fill  in  with  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  127 

treasures  of  all  these  books.  So  you  can  imagine  us 
crowding  in  these  delightful  literary  afternoons,  with 
our  French  lessons  and  so  many  other  things. 

We  have  had  some  delightful  outings.  I  have  grat 
ified  a  longing  of  mine  to  visit  an  island  in  the  harbor 
—  actually.  But  that  needs  quite  a  preface,  and  I 
must  go  back  to  my  visit  to  Miss  Dexter,  when  I  went 
down  to  carry  some  flowers  to  the  poor  woman  who 
lives  in  the  rooms  below.  I  did  find  such  a  sad,  sick- 
looking  woman,  who  was  indeed  delighted  with  my 
flowers,  especially  for  the  sake  of  the  sick  little  girl 
she  held  in  her  arms  ;  for  the  sick  little  thing  did  look 
up  and  smile  at  a  gay  red  nasturtium.  The  picture  of 
her  qiiite  haunted  me,  so  I  went  down  to  see  her  again, 
and  found,  this  time,  that  the  poor  little  girl  was 
struggling  with  a  severe  illness.  I  directly  thought 
of  the  good  place  I  had  been  told  of,  where  sick  chil 
dren  could  be  carried,  on  an  island  in  the  harbor  of 
this  hospitable  Boston.  I  did  not  venture  to  speak  of 
it  to  the  mother  till  I  had  inquired  more  about  the 
matter  ;  but  I  hurried  directly  to  the  West  End  Nur 
sery  in  Blossom  Street,  where  I  met  such  a  pleasant 
friend,  Miss  A.,  whom  I  had  learned  to  know  at  the 
Flower  Mission. 

She  was  directly  and  most  kindly  interested  and 
told  me  of  the  "  Children's  Island."  Does  it  not  sound 
something  like  a  fairy  tale  ?  And  it  is  what  I  used 
to  dream  about,  an  island  where  children  could  go  and 
do  just  what  they  please  and  break  their  toys  if  they 
wanted  to ;  only  I  don't  remember  ever  really  want 
ing  to  break  my  toys.  I  was  very  sorry  when  my 
doll  broke  her  arm,  but  I  loved  her  just  as  much 
after  her  arm  was  broken,  especially  as  she  did  not 
seem  to  mind  it  and  got  on  very  well  with  the  one 
arm. 

But  this  "  Children's  Island  "  is  devoted  to  the  in- 


128  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

valid  children,  from  the  close,  warm  streets  of  Boston, 
who  often  need  only  the  fresh  invigorating  air  of  the 
sea  to  restore  them.  Is  it  not  a  most  kindly  charity  ? 
My  friend  was  quickly  interested  and  went  with  me  to 
see  the  sick  child  and  her  mother,  and  made  arrange 
ments  to  take  them  both  down  to  the  island  directly. 
They  are  very  glad  at  the  island  to  have  visitors,  so  Anna 
and  I  decided  to  go  down  and  spend  the  day.  We  were 
all  to  meet  at  the  Eastern  station  to  go  on  together  to 
Marblehead.  Anna  and  I  found  we  were  making  an 
early  start,  so  we  went  round  by  Faneuil  Hall  Market, 
which  I  had  never  before  visited,  and  so  tempting 
and  picturesque  with  the  fruit  stalls  outside. 

As  Anna  was  wandering  on  in  front  of  me,  I 
could  not  help  stopping  at  one,  most  especially  pic 
turesque.  Here  was  a  great  basket  of  melons  outside, 
and  peaches  and  plums,  every  fruit  you  could  think 
of,  most  artistically  arranged,  so  that  I  stopped  to  ex 
claim  at  them.  The  man  who  was  selling  them 
looked  as  picturesque  as  the  rest.  Somehow  I  fancied 
he  must  be  a  Greek  from  the  "  beautiful  isles,"  and, 
almost  involuntarily,  I  ventured  an  effort  upon  a  sort 
of  greeting  in  Greek.  " KaV  hemera,"  I  said,  for  a 
good-morning.  Whereupon  my  Greek  friend  started 
from  his  languid  position  and,  beaming  with  smiles, 
he  poured  forth  a  flow  of  unknown  language,  out  of 
which  I  could  pick  out  a  word  or  two.  "  How  could 
he  serve  me  ?  "  "  Did  I  understand  Greek  ?  "  —  I 
hardly  know  what.  But  I  had  to  buy  a  few  peaches, 
and  he  insisted  upon  thrusting  a  bunch  of  grapes  and 
some  flowers  into  my  brown-paper  bag,  the  finest  speci 
mens  before  him.  And  I  had  to  hurry  away  from 
his  ardent  expressions  of  delight  at  hearing  his  native 
tongue.  Anna  was  coming  back  to  see  what  had  hap 
pened  to  me. 

At  the  station  we  found  the  poor  mother,  holding 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND   LUCY.  129 

her  little  girl  in  her  arms,  both  so  wan  and  sick  that 
it  seemed  almost  hopeless  to  take  them  further.  But 
it  was  wonderful  how  the  fresh  air  revived  them,  as 
we  went  on  in  the  train,  catching  the  sea  breezes  as  it 
passed  along  the  shore.  So  by  the  time  we  reached 
Marblehead,  we  could  pass  through  its  quaint  old 
streets  without  trouble,  reaching  the  wharf,  where  a 
real  sailboat  was  to  take  us  over  to  the  island.  This 
used  to  be  called  Lowell  Island,  as  there  was  a  large 
hotel  there  to  which  the  Lowell  people  loved  to  come 
for  the  summer.  But  of  late  years  the  island  has 
been  taken  for  a  hospital  for  sick  children,  Mr.  Fred 
erick  H.  Kindge  having  bought  the  whole  place,  with 
its  hotel,  for  a  summer  home  for  such  invalids,  with 
the  sole  condition  that  no  question  of  race,  creed,  or 
color  shall  ever  be  raised  in  admission  to  its  privi 
leges.  The  sisters  of  Saint  Margaret  take  charge  of 
the  institution,  which  can  accommodate  fifty  children. 
A  change  is  made  every  week,  when  twenty-five  chil 
dren  are  sent  back  to  their  homes  or  institutions  and 
twenty-five  more  children  are  received. 

Two  other  children  were  being  taken  over  in  the 
boat  with  us,  and,  with  our  little  girl,  they  began  to 
look  better  in  the  fresh  breeze  of  our  little  voyage 
across  to  the  island.  One  of  the  older  girls  had  never 
seen  a  boat  or  the  sea  before,  and,  as  we  landed,  she 
flew  out  and  up  the  rocks  with  the  delight  of  a  bird 
let  loose  from  a  cage,  or  of  a  horse  turned  out  into  the 
fields. 

Indeed  it  did  not  look  anywhere  like  a  hospital. 
There  are  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  rooms  in  the 
large  house,  which  stands  on  the  edge  of  the  sea,  so 
that  from  the  back  you  look  directly  down  upon  the 
rocks  and  the  waves  dashing  below.  On  the  lower 
floor  are  parlors  and  a  large  dining-room  and  play- 

9 


130  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

rooms  for  the  children ;  and  above  are  the  sleeping- 
rooms,  and  on  this  floor  a  toy-room,  where  every  va 
riety  of  plaything  can  be  found.  Besides  the  sick 
children,  some  boarders  are  allowed  on  the  island, 
girls  and  women  who  cannot  afford  to  pay  the  high 
board  of  a  seaside  watering-place,  and  who  are  accom 
modated  here  at  three  dollars  a  week. 

We  wandered  over  the  island,  which  is  a  lovely 
place,  with  charming  views  in  every  direction.  Far 
away  is  the  lighthouse  at  Gloucester  with  which 
Miss  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps  has  made  us  acquainted. 
Then  they  pointed  out  to  us  the  Baker's  Island  light 
house,  Nursery  and  Gooseberry  islands,  etc.  Anna 
and  I  thought  we  could  pass  the  summer  there  with 
pleasure.  And  we  were  invited  to  come  again  to  see  our 
little  invalid  and  her  mother,  and  both  of  them  seemed 
already  improving  before  we  left.  Is  it  not  a  valuable 
institution  ?  And  anybody  visiting  it  would  be  glad 
to  contribute  liberally  towards  keeping  it.  The  win 
ter  storms  have  injured  the  old  house,  and  much  could 
be  done  to  improve  it.  Just  a  sight  of  the  poor  sick 
children,  cared  for  in  the  airy  rooms,  makes  one  feel 
happy  that  such  a  place  can  be  found  for  them  ;  and 
then  one  passes  to  the  cheering  sight  of  the  children 
who  are  getting  better  and  need  not  be  kept  in  their 
beds,  but  who  are  having  a  delightful  time  plashing 
in  the  pools  among  the  rocks,  fishing  and  bathing, 
throwing  pebbles  into  the  sea,  or  wading  about  on  the 
beach.  As  we  sat  upon  the  rocks  talking  with  the 
sisters,  Anna  and  I  talked  over  the  numerous  friends 
we  knew  who  would  surely  like  to  contribute  some 
thing  to  that  delightful  work  of  making  all  these  chil 
dren  well  and  so  happy.  Much  is  needed  in  repairing 
the  old  house  and  all  the  daily  necessities  of  the 
home  are  dependent  upon  public  charity. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  131 

I  have  not  time  to  tell  you  more  of  the  lovely 
trip  back  to  Marblehead  in  the  sailboat,  and  of  the 
few  moments  we  had  to  walk  about  the  picturesque 
streets  of  Marblehead,  before  taking  the  train  to 
return.  Anna  and  I  are  planning  more  excursions 
in  the  harbor. 


132  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  ELEVENTH. 

XITI. 

HARRY  MERTON  TO  NAHUM  MERTON. 

CAMBRIDGE,  August  16,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  NAHUM,  —  You  must  let  mother  read 
this  letter.  But  it  is  your  letter,  all  the  same,  and  it 
is  in  answer  to  your  nice  letter  to  me  about  the 
huckleberry  party.  You  managed  famously  when  the 
boat  was  upset,  and  I  am  glad  you  all  came  out  safe. 
The  way  you  dried  your  clothes  was  very  clever. 
Now  I  will  tell  you  how  we  take  our  boating  parties 
here,  when  we  do  not  go  out  in  the  harbor.  For  I 
went  yesterday  afternoon. 

There  are  three  sets  of  street  cars,  not  to  say  four, 
by  which  you  can  go  out  of  town  toward  the  south, 
and  one  of  them,  which  goes  among  houses  rather 
more  than  shops  after  you  leave  the  Common,  — 
which  is  the  middle  of  the  town,  just  as  the  Common 
is  at  Atherton,  —  is  called  the  Columbus  Avenue  line. 
I  think  they  will  put  a  statue  of  Sir  William  Pep- 
perell  there  some  day ;  for  I  notice  that  they  have  a 
statue  of  Columbus  in  Louisburg  Square  to  celebrate 
Pepperell's  great  victory.  So  it  would  be  only  fair  to 
give  Pepperell  a  statue  here.  Well,  one  great  merit 
of  the  Columbus  Avenue  cars  is  that  they  go  to  the 
Providence  station  and  the  Albany  station  both.  And 
so  when  we  want  to  go  to  Riverside  to  row  or  to  sail 
on  the  Charles  River,  you  go  to  the  Columbus  Avenue 
station  of  the  Albany  train.  And  among  other  trains 
there,  they  have  one  which  keeps  going  round  in  what 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  133 

they  call  a  "  circle."  What  they  call  a  "  square  "  here 
has  three  corners  or  seven  or  five,  and  what  they  call 
a  "  circle  "  is  not  round.  But  it  is  called  a  "  circle  " 
for  short,  because  it  goes  no  farther  than  Riverside, 
and  then,  while  it  keeps  on,  it  comes  back  to  Boston. 
This  is  what  delights  the  real  "  Bostoneer,"  because 
he  can  start  on  his  journey  and  be  sure  that  he  will 
not  be  carried  too  far  from  his  dear  home. 

Xow,  really,  it  is  first-rate  fun  going  to  Riverside 
and  getting  a  boat  there.  It  takes  us  maybe  fifteen 
minutes  from  the  office,  and  then  it  is,  perhaps, 
twenty  minutes  more  to  Riverside.  It  is  a  pretty 
ride,  through  nice  towns  where  people  live  who  come 
in  to  Boston  to  do  their  work  every  day.  And  the 
railroad  people  have  so  much  more  money  than  the 
stockholders  can  have,  or  than  the  people  of  the  State 
want,  that  they  plant  pretty  rose-gardens  up  and  down 
the  tracks,  each  way  from  the  stations.  You  have 
everything  to  make  you  comfortable  except  hornets' 
nests,  as  it  says  in  the  story.  When  you  come  to 
Riverside,  if  it  is  Saturday  afternoon,  fifty  or  a  hun 
dred  people  get  out  and  tramp  right  down  to  the 
water  to  choose  their  boats.  Other  days  there  are  not 
so  many,  but  Saturday  is  a  sort  of  holiday.  There  are 
so  many  of  us  in  our  building  who  like  to  be  sure  of  a 
boat  that  we  give  a  standing  order  that  the  "  Rose  Stan- 
dish  "  shall  be  kept  for  us  at  Partelow's  Saturdays. 
Then  in  the  morning,  if  it  proves  that  more  fellows  want 
to  go  than  will  use  the  "  Rose,"  why,  Mr.  Stroak  tele 
phones  up  to  Riverside.  Yesterday  we  were  two  parties 
—  my  party  and  another  —  and  both  boats  were  ready. 

Do  you  not  remember  a  little  red  book,  "  Red  and 
Wliite,"  which  I  had  at  Christmas  in  the  T.  T.  T. 
Club  ?  And  it  tells  about  some  Indians  on  the 
Charles  River  ?  Well,  this  is  that  same  river  at 
that  same  place,  and  I  believe  that  the  man  that 


134  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

wrote  the  story  comes  to  Partelow's  to  row.  I  keep 
saying  Partelow,  because  he  is  the  man  I  know. 
There  is  another  man  who  lets  boats,  and  they  look 
like  good  boats.  But  Partelow's  are  as  good  as  they 
can  be,  and  the  best  is  good  enough  for  me. 

You  can  go  up  the  river  or  down  the  river.  You 
may  say  this  is  always  true,  but  it  is  not.  For  in 
stance,  if  you  launch  your  canoe  at  the  foot  of  Niagara 
Palls,  you  would  find  it  rather  hard  to  paddle  up, 
even  if  you  were  a  salmon  with  a  very  stiff  tail. 
Here,  there  is  a  little  fall,  four  or  five  miles  below 
Partelow's,  at  Waltham,  and  there  are  other  falls 
above,  which  are  called  Newton  Lower  Falls  and 
Newton  Upper  Falls.  Between  these  falls  —  I  do  not 
know  how  many  miles,  but  I  should  think  seven  or 
eight  —  is  the  long,  winding  stretch  of  Charles  River, 
which  is  the  pleasure  ground  of  sensible  Boston  dur 
ing  the  days  from  April,  till  it  is  frozen  up  in  winter. 
And  it  is  here  that  the  Indians,  as  I  have  said  just 
now,  came  down  in  the  expedition  which  is  described 
in  "  Red  and  White."  Sometimes  we  go  up  and 
sometimes  we  go  down.  I  will  tell  you  another  time 
about  our  going  up  to  hear  the  great  echo  where  the 
aqueduct  crosses  the  river,  but  not  now. 

Our  party  was  myself  and  James  and  Mr.  Stroak. 
I  let  them  row  the  first  half  of  the  time,  while  I  had 
the  helm.  Both  sides  of  the  river  are  well  wooded. 
I  believe  there  are  gentlemen's  places  behind,  the 
woods  of  which  run  down  to  the  river.  But  it  all 
seems  as  wild  as  if  nobody  had  been  there  since  it 
was  made,  excepting  that,  every  now  and  then,  there 
is  a  nice  little  boathouse  running  out.  But  the  birds 
seem  to  feel  at  home,  the  wild  flowers  are  abundant, 
and  you  do  not  have  a  feeling  that  you  are  within  ten 
miles  of  a  great  city. 

James  had  never  seen  the  monument  to  the  North- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  135 

men,  so  we  went  there  first.  That  is  just  where  the 
river  makes  a  sharp  corner,  which  is  on  the  edge,  I 
believe,  of  the  town  of  Waltham  ;  and  here  a  Cam 
bridge  gentleman  found  some  entrenchments,  some 
years  ago,  which  he  thinks  are  the  walls  and  fortifi 
cations  of  the  city  of  Norumbega.  So  he  has  put  up 
a  great  tower,  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high,  where  you  can 
climb  up  and  see  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world. 
And  there  is  a  great  granite  tablet,  as  big  as  the 
front  door  of  our  house,  with  a  great  deal  of  history 
carved  upon  it,  which  will  remain  there  .for  some 
hundred  years  to  tell  the  world  what  he  thought 
about  this  first  discovery.  We  went  into  a  little 
creek,  which  is  so  narrow  we  had  to  ship  our  oars  to 
get  in,  and  this,  I  believe,  is  the  harbor  where  the 
Northmen's  ships  are  supposed  to  have  entered  and 
traded  with  the  Indians.  Exactly  how  they  got  up 
above  the  waterfalls  at  Watertown  and  Waltham,  I 
do  not  know,  but  all  the  same  the  tower  is  there,  and 
it  gives  you  a  splendid  view  of  the  country,  and  one 
learns  a  great  deal  more  about  the  geography  of  Bos 
ton  than  he  can  from  any  other  convenient  place  that 
I  know.  Stroak  said  he  was  there  last  spring  when 
the  apple-trees  were  in  blossom  all  through  this 
valley,  and  it  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  gardens 
you  can  see  in  the  world.  I  can  well  believe  it. 

We  did  not  want  to  waste  our  afternoon  studying 
geography  at  the  tops  of  towers ;  so,  as  soon  as 
James  had  seen  what  there  was  to  see,  so  that  he 
could  come  again  alone,  we  pulled  down  towards 
Waltham.  One  of  the  nice  features  about  the  expedi 
tion,  which  I  had  taken  before,  is  that  while  at  one  min 
ute  you  are  all  alone  and  imagine  yourself  in  a  lake 
at  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  the  next  mo 
ment  you  meet  a  party  of  people  whom,  perhaps,  you 
have  been  talking  with  half  the  morning.  Just  as 


136  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

we  came  out  into  the  river  and  went  down  towards 
Waltham,  we  fell  in  with  what  Stroak  said  were  two 
Waltham  boats,  and  in  these  were  half  a  dozen  people 
whom  I  knew  quite  well.  Mother  will  remember  my 
writing  about  going  to  Class  Day,  and  the  pretty  Miss 
Sandford  that  I  danced  with  there,  and  some  of  the 
Cambridge  fellows  who  were  having  their  "  spreads  " 
as  they  left  college.  There  were  three  or  four  of 
these  in  this  boat,  and  Miss  Sandford,  who  is  the  same 
I  last  heard  of  shut  up  in  the  cupola  of  the  State 
House,  was  one  of  the  party.  So  I  know  that  she  is 
not  a  prisoner  there  still. 

It  is  queer  enough  ;  it  is  nearly  two  months  since 
I  saw  all  these  people  first.  I  am  all  the  time  run 
ning  against  one  or  another  of  them,  but  with  hardly 
any  chance  to  talk  to  them,  though  one  night  I  did 
meet  Miss  Osborne  and  her  brother  at  a  party.  But 
this  time  I  was  glad  to  see  that  Miss  Sandford,  who 
seems  to  be  a  very  nice  girl,  had  got  out  of  her  im 
prisonment.  For  I  have  found  out  certainly  that 
Mike  Flanigan's  "  Jamaica  Ginger "  is  the  same  as 
my  Miss  Sandford  of  Class  Day.  I  believe  the  last 
time  she  saw  me  was  when  I  came  out  of  the  water, 
like  a  drowned  rat,  at  the  side  of  the  "  Newark."  She 
did  not  know,  when  I  made  my  elegant  bow  to  her, 
that  I  had  called  at  her  schoolhouse  in  the  morning 
and  found  it  shut  up. 

This  is  the  way  you  go  and  come  on  the  river.  We 
went  down  till  we  lost  ourselves  in  a  tangle  of  islands, 
and  none  of  us  had  any  map  to  show  how  to  get  back 
again.  But  the  tangle  was  not  such  that  we  spent 
thirty  years  of  our  life  there,  as  Eobinson  Crusoe  did, 
and  by  some  pretty  stiff  rowing  we  got  back  in  time. 
Not  in  time  for  our  train ;  you  never  get  your  own 
train.  But  there  is  always  another  train  going  in 
about  twenty  minutes,  when  you  are  late  for  your 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  137 

own.     You  can  see  what  a  nice  way  this  is  to  spend 
Saturday  afternoon. 

Now,  dear  Nahum,  I  have  written  you  what  grand 
mamma  calls  "  a  nice,  long  letter."  Take  care  that 
you  write  as  long  a  one  to  me.  Tell  me  about  all  the 
fellows  and  how  the  club  gets  on,  and  particularly  if 
you  get  overboard  again  in  "  Bombazine." 

Always  your  affectionate  brother, 

HARRY  MERTON. 


138  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


XIV. 

HARRY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

Sunday  evening. 

Mr  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  I  have  been  writing  a  separate 
letter  to  ISTahum,  and  you  must  take  that  as  a  part  of 
ray  letter  to  you.  I  like  to  keep  up  the  dear  boy's 
interest  in  correspondence,  and  I  think  he  writes  a 
capital  letter.  All  the  same,  I  am  glad  you  do  not 
ask  him  to  show  them  to  you.  It  is  the  freshness  of 
the  thing  which  gives  it  half  its  charm.  One  of  these 
days  he  will  be  coming  here  himself,  and  I  think  he 
will  enjoy  Boston  all  the  more  because  he  has  an 
older  brother  here  to  show  him  its  ways. 

You  need  not  be  anxious  about  my  eating  and 
drinking.  By  virtue  of  being  in  the  Summer  School 
I  have  a  card  at  the  Foxcroft  Club,  and  that  is  rather 
a  pleasant  thing,  because  it  brings  me  in  with  nice 
fellows  whom  I  am  glad  to  know.  "  Foxcroft  Club  " 
means  this :  The  college  Memorial  Hall  is  crowded 
and  overcrowded  all  through  term  time.  They  can't 
receive  half  the  fellows  who  want  to  take  their  meals 
there.  They  are  trying  to  mend  this  now  by  throw 
ing  open  half  the  tables  as  they  would  be  at  a  hotel, 
so  that  a  man  can  go  just  as  he  chooses  and  when  he 
chooses,  and  they  hope  thus  to  accommodate  at  those 
tables  twice  as  many  as  they  had  before.  How  that 
will  work  we  cannot  tell  now,  but  it  is  the  best  they 
can  do. 

But  somebody  —  I  believe  Professor  Shaler  —  ob 
served  that  this  made  the  other  boarding-houses 
costly,  and  that  there  was  quite  room  for  some  other 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  139 

arrangement  for  students  who  did  not  want  to  eat  ice 
cream  and  plum-cake  all  the  time.  And  he  or  some 
body  else  organized  this  Foxcroft  Club.  It  means 
that  you  have  a  sufficiently  good  breakfast,  dinner,  or 
supper,  and  do  not  have  to  pay  for  it  any  more  than 
it  costs.  I  believe  there  was  an  old  minister  named 
Foxcroft  for  whom  it  was  named.  And,  by  the  way, 
somebody  told  me  he  was  a  sort  of  relation  of  Ralph 
Waldo  Emerson.  And,  do  you  know,  they  say  that 
Emerson,  theorist  and  idealist  as  people  think  him, 
was  one  of  the  most  practical  men  about  these  affairs 
of  the  direction  of  every-day  life  whom  you  could 
stumble  on.  I  wonder  if  it  is  not  that  which  gives  a 
certain  Yankee  raciness  to  everything  which  he 
wrote.  You  used  to  be  surprised  that  I  swore  by 
Emerson  so  entirely ;  but  I  tell  you  all  the  young  men 
I  know,  who  are  worth  knowing,  are  quoting  Emerson 
all  the  time,  and,  as  like  as  not,  have  some  little 
Emerson  handbook  in  their  pockets.  And  in  all  my 
Sunday  adventures,  I  am  bound  to  hear  something 
of  Emerson's  pushed  into  every  sermon,  no  matter 
whether  I  am  in  a  Baptist  church,  or  in  a  high  Epis 
copal  church,  or  at  some  place  which  your  friend  the 
deacon  would  think  awfully  heretical. 

I  am  glad  I  came  out  to  Cambridge.  There  are 
excellent  loafing-places  here.  The  Botanical  Garden 
seems  to  be  open  to  anybody.  I  have  asked  no  ques 
tions  there  and  nobody  has  hindered  me,  but  I  can  go 
about  and  read  the  names  on  the  little  tags  and  im 
prove  my  botany  after  my  own  fashion.  This  is  a 
thing  you  cannot  do  in  the  new  park  in  Boston. 
Whether  they  know  the  names  of  their  plants  or  not, 
I  do  not  know.  They  have  a  lot  of  loafing  policemen 
there,  whose  business,  somebody  told  me,  was  to 
insult  the  people  who  come  there,  under  pretence  of 
seeing  that  they  do  not  pick  the  flowers.  But  none 


140  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

of  them  know  what  any  of  the  plants  are,  so  there  is 
no  good  asking  them.  And  there  are  no  notices  of 
any  sort.  When  you  walk  on  the  Common,  you  have 
a  notice  to  tell  you  that  the  elm-tree  is  an  Ulmus 
Americana;  but  not  in  the  new  park.  However,  I 
suppose  they  will  come  in  time.  Perhaps  the  things 
will  develop,  if  they  water  the  flowers  long  enough. 
But  at  the  Botanic  Garden  there  is  no  difficulty.  You 
can  really  pick  up  a  good  deal  there,  as  the  season 
goes  by.  You  have  a  chance  of  seeing  what  are  the 
steps  in  what  Mr.  Higginson  called  "  the  Procession 
of  the  Flowers,"  all  over  New  England ;  for  they 
have  almost  everything  here.  Somebody  told  me 
they  got  a  pink  pond-lily  from  Cape  Cod,  though  I 
have  not  seen  it. 

I  went  down  on  an  errand  last  week  to  Kingston, 
Rhode  Island,  where  the  agricultural  experiment  sta 
tion  of  the  State  is,  and  I  wished  ever  so  much  you 
had  been  with  me  there.  They  have  a  man  named 
Cushman  there,  who  is  very  learned  about  bees  and 
honey.  He  was  very  good  to  me  and  showed  me  the 
whole  process  of  honey-making  and  wax-making,  and, 
I  have  a  right  to  say,  of  bee-making.  I  was  wishing 
all  the  time  that  you  were  there.  You  remember  the 
old  story  in  Hood  about  the  boy  who  told  the  other 
boy  that,  if  he  would  come  to  see  him,  he  had  got  a 
hornets'  nest  ready  for  him  and  everything  else  to 
make  him  comfortable.  I  was  quoting  that  to  Nahum 
just  now.  Well,  Mr.  Cushman  had  five-and-twenty 
swarms  of  bees  ready  for  me,  and  made  me  perfectly 
comfortable  at  the  same  time.  He  put  on  me  a  sort 
of  helmet  of  gauze,  which  screened  my  face,  and  took 
in  his  own  hands  a  "  smoker,"  which  seems  to  be  a 
sort  of  pocket  pistol  which  you  have  ready  to  suggest 
to  any  bee  that  he  must  not  sting  you,  and  we  went 
around.  I  saw  the  operations  of  the  little  fellows 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AA?D  LUCY.  141 

face  to  face,  not  to  say  hand  to  hand.  The  whole 
science  of  honey-making  has  changed  in  the  last 
fifteen  or  twenty  years,  and  the  product,  for  all  prac 
tical  purposes,  is  very  much  more  plentiful,  and  the 
process,  so  to  speak,  is  very  much  improved.  It 
seems  queer  to  say  that  the  bee  can  improve  his  pro 
cess  ;  but  every  bee  makes  now  about  five  times  as 
much  honey  as  any  bee  did  thirty  years  ago.  Mr. 
Cushman  asked  me  if  I  preferred  the  flavor  of  clover 
honey,  or  of  buckwheat  honey^  or  of  aster  honey. 
He  had,  I  do  not  know  how  many  flavors  of  honey 
boxed  up  there,  according  as  it  was  made  in  one 
season  or  another.  All  of  which  you  would  have 
understood  a  great  deal  better  than  I.  The  whole 
place  is  a  capital  place  for  a  boy  to  get  enthusiastic 
about  gardening  and  farming,  and  I  shall  want  to 
talk  to  father  and  you  about  sending  Nahum  down 
there  for  a  winter. 

You  said  you  were  surprised  that  I  had  taken  no 
chance  to  hear  our  new  Bishop,  Phillips  Brooks.  You 
have  brought  me  up  so  well  that  I  do  not  care  much 
to  tramp  round  in  search  of  my  religious  instructions. 
And,  as  I  told  you,  the  People's  Church  and  Dr. 
Haynes  are  good  enough  for  me.  What  am  I  but  a 
child  of  the  public  ?  and  I  believe  the  name  interested 
me.  And  another  thing,  which  I  suppose  Dr.  Haynes 
knows  nothing  about,  and  which  I  believe  I  never  told 
to  you.  Years  and  years  ago,  that  time  when  I  made 
my  famous  visit  here  on  Aunt  Jane,  one  Sunday  when 
I  was  at  the  Sunday  School,  the  children  had  a  chance 
given  them  to  give  one  brick  each  for  the  building  of 
that  church.  Lulu  and  I  agreed  to  unite.  I  believe  I 
gave  nine  cents  and  she  gave  eleven.  Any  way,  we 
were  told  we  had  contributed  a  brick  between  us,  and, 
from  the  moment  I  came  to  Boston,  I  felt  the  gran 
deur  of  a  proprietor,  and  I  have  been  very  glad  I  did. 


142  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

But  yesterday  I  wanted  to  obey  your  orders  and 
show  the  town  to  our  neighbor,  Miss  Clara  Fenton, 
and,  like  all  other  strangers,  she  wanted  to  hear 
Phillips  Brooks.  We  knew  he  was  at  Mr.  Lowell's 
funeral  Friday,  and  we  thought  he  might  be  at  Trin 
ity.  He  was  not,  but  we  were  well  repaid  for  going. 
The  whole  service  was  interesting,  the  sermon  was 
admirable,  and  she  thanked  me  heartily  for  showing 
her  the  way. 

I  did  not  know  who  the  preacher  was.  But  as  soon 
as  he  gave  out  the  text,  we  knew  that  he  was  going  to 
speak  of  Mr.  Lowell.  And,  all  the  time,  dear  mother, 
I  was  thinking  of  you  and  the  time  when  you  first 
read  "  Sir  Launfal "  to  me.  This  gentleman  almost 
took  it  for  granted  that  "  Sir  Launfal "  was  Lowell's 
greatest  and  most  remarkable  poem.  He  read  from  it 
some  of  the  lines  you  know  by  heart  and  are  so  fond 
of.  And  what  it  was  very  good  to  hear,  and  what,  in 
that  place,  seemed  to  me  very  brave,  he  said  squarely 
that  the  divinity  of  humanity  is  the  special  religious 
lesson  of  this  time.  He  said  Lowell  showed  himself  a 
poet  of  his  time  by  teaching  that  "  he  who  does  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  does  it 
unto  me."  He  said  this  was  the  special  lesson,  or  the 
enforcement  of  it  the  special  business  of  the  "  men  of 
this  neighborhood,  the  men  of  Boston  and  Concord 
and  Cambridge ; "  and  that  he  would  ask  nothing 
more  of  them  than  to  own  that  their  ancestors  were 
moved  and  quickened  by  the  death  of  Christ  as  they 
are  moved  and  quickened  by  his  life.  The  life  of 
Christ  and  the  divine  life  in  each  of  God's  children  — 
these  made  the  sermon ;  and  this  is  your  doctrine  so 
perfectly  that  I  wished  you  had  been  there  to  hear. 

There  is  talk  of  making  this  Trinity  Church  into  a 
cathedral.  That  is,  they  propose  to  throw  it  open 
to  anybody  who  will  come  in  —  well,  much  as  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY,  143 

People's  Church  is  thrown  open.  If  it  is  a  cathedral, 
it  will  be  Phillips  Brooks's  cathedral,  and  he  will 
preach  here  when  he  can.  Naturally,  of  course,  the 
people  would  like  to  hear  him  when  they  can.  I 
could  not  help  thinking  to-day  that  the  attendance 
justified  this  idea. 

For  this  is  what  the  Transcript,  last  night,  called 
"the  dead  day  of  the  year"  in  Boston.  That  means  that 
everybody  is  away  that  can  be  away.  And,  indeed,  in 
that  neighborhood  we  could  see  that  three  houses  out 
of  four  were  shut  up,  and  you  might  say  sealed  up, 
for  the  summer.  Still,  here  was  a  large  congregation, 
clearly  of  strangers  like  ourselves.  You  cannot  say 
that  they  came  to  hear  a  preacher  who  had  been 
announced  beforehand.  There  had  been  no  announce 
ment  ;  the  chances  were  five  out  of  six  against  Dr. 
Brooks,  for  instance,  being  there,  or  any  other  partic 
ular  person  whom  these  people  wanted.  They  came, 
certain  that  there  would  be  a  good  service,  well 
rendered.  And  they  were  rewarded  by  having  more 
than  they  came  for.  You  see  everybody  took  any  seat 
he  could  find.  There  was  no  need  of  ushers,  because 
the  whole  body  of  the  church  is  thrown  open  in  July 
and  August. 

The  church  is  as  beautiful  as  you  described  it. 
There  is  nothing  gaudy  about  the  colored  glass.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  there  is  at  our  church  and  in  most  of 
the  churches  where  I  see  it.  But  here  the  man  has 
controlled  himself  —  or  the  men.  I  believe  it  is  the 
New  York  glass  you  were  telling  me  about.  Good 
night,  dear  Mother.  Thank  you  always  for  your  nice 
letters. 

Monday  evening. 

If  they  will  let  me  have  a  few  lines  more,  I  will  tell 
you  about  our  drive  this  afternoon.  I  had  succeeded 


144  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

so  well  with  Miss  Fenton  that  we  made  a  little  party 
this  afternoon  and  I  took  her  to  drive.  After  my  suc 
cess  this  time  in  showing  the  lions,  you  must  not  be 
afraid  to  send  me  any  one  else.  Keally,  I  think  she 
regards  me  as  quite  fine,  and  I  cannot  have  betrayed 
myself  as  a  Vermont  boy,  only  two  months  from 
Leeds,  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  times.  At  all 
events,  she  has  been  profuse  in  her  thanks  for  my 
little  attentions,  and  I  can  see  that  for  a  perfect 
stranger  in  Boston  it  must  be  convenient  to  have  a 
man  about,  even  if  he  is  a  little  green. 

I  forget  what  day  I  got  your  letter  asking  me  to 
look  her  up.  But  Saturday  I  found  where  she  was, 
and  Saturday  evening  I  called.  It  was  a  pretty  for 
lorn,  deserted,  great  boarding-house,  stuffy  and  empty 
as  Mrs.  Metcalfs  was,  before  she  and  I  marched  out 
of  it  with  the  honors  of  war.  And  when  Miss  Fen- 
ton  appeared  and  found  out  who  I  was,  she  certainly 
was  not  at  all  ungracious,  as  you  were  afraid  she 
would  be.  She  said  she  was  glad  to  see  me,  any  way, 
and  I  guess  she  was.  She  had  been  "  all  sole  alone  " 
all  day  and  had  found  every  living  being  away  whom 
she  had  called  to  see.  She  had  even  been  disap 
pointed  in  her  shopping  in  the  afternoon,  for  half  the 
shops  are  shut  up  on  Saturdays.  That  is  what  people 
mean  when  they  call  the  fifteenth  of  August  the  dead 
day  and  say  the  town  is  empty.  I  can  see  it  myself. 

I  told  her  how  I  had  spent  my  afternoon  on  the 
river,  and  she  was  not  so  "  poky  "  but  that  her  mouth 
really  seemed  to  water  for  such  an  expedition.  If  I 
had  known  in  time,  I  could  have  got  Mrs.  Outlake  or 
some  of  our  Leeds  ladies  for  a  chaperon,  and,  indeed, 
I  would  have  taken  her,  she  seemed  so  forlorn.  As  it 
was,  the  minute  she  spoke  of  Trinity  and  Phillips 
Brooks,  I  said  I  would  gladly  go  there  with  her,  and 
that  was  how  I  came  to  be  there. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  145 

As  we  came  home  from  church,  she  told  a  pretty 
story,  which  she  never  would  have  told  me  but  for  the 
sermon.  She  was  almost  betrayed  into  it.  It  seems 
that  they  were  belated  as  they  came  into  town  and 
that  she  was  alone  after  dark  at  the  station.  How 
ever,  as  she  said  laughing,  "  I  am  no  chicken  and  can 
manage  my  own  canoe,"  and  I  do  not  think  she  was 
at  all  frightened  at  being  alone.  She  simply  took  the 
first  hackman,  gave  him  her  checks,  and  sat  in  the 
carriage  waiting  for  him  and  the  trunks.  As  she  sat, 
a  poor  girl  came  along  sobbing,  with  an  enormous 
bundle  in  checked  cloth.  Miss  Fenton  had  seen  her 
in  the  car  and  had  speculated  about  her.  When  she 
saw  the  girl  sobbing,  she  spoke  to  her  and  asked  what 
was  the  matter.  The  girl  was  frightened  and  still 
sobbed,  but  I  assure  you  Miss  Fenton  can  be  kind,  if 
she  is  stiff  and  "  poky."  And,  in  a  minute,  it  ap 
peared  that  the  poor  girl  had  come  from  Fredricton  or 
Annapolis  or  heaven  knows  where  among  the  Blue- 
noses,  and  was  to  meet  her  sister  at  the  station.  ISTo 
sister !  I  suppose  she  had  managed  to  come  to  the 
Boston  and  Maine  instead  of  the  Eastern.  You  see 
there  are  four  Northern  Stations,  as  we  call  them, 
where  there  should  be  but  one. 

Miss  Fenton  said  to  me  that  she  would  willingly 
enough  have  taken  the  girl  with  her,  bag,  baggage,  and 
bundles.  But  she  did  not  know  these  "swell"  peo 
ple  where  she  was  going,  and  they  did  not  know  her, 
and  she  did  not  know  what  they  would  say.  The  Blue- 
nose  girl  had,  of  course,  lost  her  sister's  "  direction 
card,"  as  she  called  it,  or  thought  she  had  lost  it  — 
which  was  just  the  same  thing.  Just  at  this  junc 
ture  came  the  hackman  with  the  trunk.  Instantly  he 
took  in  the  case.  "  They  always  lose  their  tickets," 
he  said.  But  he  meant,  of  course,  that  when  they 
lost  them  he  heard  of  it,  and  that  he  never  heard  of 

10 


146  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

the  successful  ones,  what  you  may  call  the  upper-class 
adventurers,  who  do  not  lose  them.  Then  he  looked 
around  wildly.  "Where  is  Miss  Blodgett?"  he 
asked ;  "  she  was  here  just  now."  And  he  rushed  off 
into  parts  unknown. 

In  a  little,  he  appeared  without  Miss  Blodgett.  He 
said  she  had  been  and  gone  with  some  other  women. 
And  it  appeared  that  Miss  Blodgett  is  the  wonderful 
woman  who  makes  it  her  business  to  attend  these 
eastern  boats  and  trains  to  see  to  just  such  lost 
women.  Is  not  that  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of 
Matthew  ?  "  But  there  ! "  said  he,  "  it  don't  make  any 
difference,  mum ;  if  you  don't  mind  going  round  by 
Warrenton  Street,  mum,  we  shall  get  there  before  she 
will."  And  it  appeared  that  at  Warrenton  Street  is 
the  Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  where  are 
Miss  Blodgett's  headquarters.  So  Miss  Fentoii  said  it 
was  all  right ;  the  Bluenose  woman  was  bundled  into 
the  carriage  ;  her  checked  bale  was  put  on  the  seat ; 
and  this  good  fellow  went  off  with  her  check  for  her 
trunk.  He  made  no  row,  though  Miss  Fenton  said  it 
was  awfully  large.  They  got  it  on  the  back  of  the 
carriage  among  them,  with  the  other  trunks,  and  all 
jumbled  off  to  Warrenton  Street,  a  strong  mile  out  of 
their  way. 

And  all  was  as  this  stout  fairy  with  a  whip  had 
said.  As  they  drove  up  to  the  door,  Miss  Blodgett 
appeared  with  three  other  women.  She  heard  the 
story  and  was  delighted.  "  It  was  as  if  Jenny  Lind 
or  Florence  Nightingale  had  happened  along,"  Miss 
Fenton  said.  And  the  trunk  and  the  bale  were  left, 
and  Miss  Blodgett  said  she  would  find  the  place,  and 
Saturday  night  Miss  Fenton  had  a  card  to  say  they 
did  so. 

Now  hear  the  end  of  the  story.  When  Miss  Fenton 
paid  for  her  hack,  she  expected  to  pay  an  extra  fare  of 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  147 

course,  but  the  man  would  not  take  it.  "  No,  mum," 
he  said  resolutely,  "we  don't  take  pay  for  such  as 
them."  Now  you  may  jeer  as  much  as  you  choose 
about  cabmen  who  read  Browning.  I  think  they  have 
read  "  Sir  Launfal "  to  some  purpose,  when  you  can 
tell  such  stories  as  that  of  them. 

All  this  story  Miss  Fenton  told  me  as  we  walked 
home  from  church.  In  the  evening  I  made  our  nice 
Mrs.  Seabright  call  on  her  with  me,  at  her  forlorn  old 
boarding-house.  Mrs.  Seabright  very  pleasantly  asked 
her  to  go  to  ride  this  afternoon,  and  then  sent  a  note 
down  to  the  office  to  beg  me  from  Mr.  Bright,  so  that 
I  might  go.  There  is  not,  alas !  a  stroke  of  work  in 
the  office,  and  he  was  glad  to  be  gracious.  He  sent  me 
to  the  Seabrights',  where  I  lunched,  and  then  I  drove 
this  afternoon.  The  two  ladies  and  I  were  all  the 
party. 

You  know  the  joke  on  Boston  people  is  that  when 
they  want  to  entertain  their  friends  they  take  them 
out  of  town.  Well  they  may,  for  the  drives  are 
beautiful.  We  drove  through  a  part  of  Franklin  Park 
and  admired  the  view  of  the  Blue  Hills,  seen  through 
that  vista  which  makes  you  feel  as  if  you  were  in  a 
wild  forest  country,  and  not  in  the  suburbs  at  all.  It 
is  really  wonderful  to  see  how  they  have  made  the 
most  of  their  space  there.  Not  many  people  were  there 
to  enjoy  it  that  day.  There  was  a  little  "carriage 
company  "  besides  ourselves,  and  I  saw  some  children 
and  numbers  of  bicyclists,  men  and  girls  both.  But 
there  was  nobody  on  horseback  and  few  walkers,  and 
I  wondered  why  there  were  not  more.  Sunday  is  the 
great  day  here,  of  course,  when  lots  of  people  come 
who  can't  at  any  other  time.  But  I  can't  help  think 
ing  that  if  the  more  leisurely  people  .were  to  take 
the  horse-car  ride  out  here  oi'tener  than  they  do,  they 
would  find  it  paid. 


148  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

I  was  glad  that  Miss  Fenton  enjoyed  it  as  much 
as  she  did.  As  she  was  just  from  the  country,  she 
enjoyed  it  more  even  than  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 
which  is  not  very  far  away,  where  we  drove  next. 
You  will  wonder  why  her  being  just  from  the  country 
should  have  taken  off  the  edge  of  her  pleasure  at  the 
Arboretum.  But,  you  see,  it  could  not  give  her  the 
intense  pleasure  it  gave  me,  who  am  now  something 
of  a  "  town  mouse,"  to  see  great  banks  planted  thick 
with  sumac  and  golden-rod  and  bayberry  and  no  end 
of  other  wild  things,  looking  as  if  nobody  but  the 
birds  and  the  winds  and  all  the  rest  of  Nature's 
workmen  had  ever  planted  them  at  all.  There  were 
fine  trees,  too,  of  course,  and  I  know  I  should  have 
enjoyed  wandering  about  and  seeing  what  they  had. 
But  we  stuck  to  the  carriage  road,  and  that  took  us 
through  these  wild  hillsides  I  have  been  speaking  of, 
up  to  a  high,  fine  view  at  the  top  of  all,  though  it  was 
too  hazy  to  quite  make  out  the  sea. 

But  as  for  views,  the  finest  we  had  that  day  was  in 
a  place  we  went  to  afterward  over  in  Brookline ;  for 
Mrs.  Seabright  had  a  call  to  pay  over  there,  and  while 
she  was  with  her  friends  we  drove  up  on  what  they 
call  Aspinwall  Hill.  I  believe  it  was  all  a  fine  old 
estate  once,  with  a  fine  old  house  on  it,  which  I 
did  n't  make  out.  I  think  it  was  on  the  other  side 
of  the  hill  from  that  we  drove  up.  The  hill  has  now 
been  covered  with  nice  new  houses,  some  of  them  very 
pretty  indeed  in  their  yards  and  gardens  ;  and  in  one 
place  there  are  what  they  call  terraces,  in  the  English 
fashion,  —  not  what  you  and  I  would  call  terraces,  but 
a  number  of  very  attractive  houses  built  together  in 
blocks ;  not,  however,  like  city  blocks,  but  with  a  very 
pleasant  air  of  their  own.  Well,  you  pass  all  these 
nice  houses  —  I  wish  I  had  placed  some  of  my  people 
here  —  and  you  drive  higher  and  higher  up,  and  after 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  149 

a  while  there  is  a  sign  saying,  "  Dangerous  Passing." 
But  you  go  straight  on  and  don't  find  it  dangerous  at 
all.  There  are  scattered  apple-trees  there  and  golden- 
rod,  planted  by  those  workmen  of  Nature  I  was  speak 
ing  of,  and  away  up  on  top  of  the  hill  you  look  off, 
and  there  is  a  view  that  is  a  view  !  I'm  not  much, 
you  know,  at  description ;  and  you  probably  won't 
care  to  hear  how  we  saw  Bunker  Hill  Monument  and 
the  State  House  and  the  Back  Bay  buildings  and  the 
rest  of  it  all ;  but  the  stableman,  after  we  got  home, 
said  it  was  the  best  view  near  Boston,  and  I  don't 
think  he  was  far  out.  I  don't  think  people  go  up 
there  much. 

I  like  Brookline,  everything  looks  so  finished  and 
so  complete,  and  as  if  people  had  their  own  way  there. 
You  know  it 's  a  town  and  takes  care  of  itself,  and 
won't  join  this  great  city  of  ours. 

As  we  drove  out  of  the  Arboretum,  turning  a  sharp 
corner,  we  met  a  fine  carriage ;  and  as  we  passed,  I 
noticed  that  one  of  the  ladies  bowed  to  me.  I  had 
my  whip  in  one  hand  and  my  reins  in  the  other,  but  I 
was  just  able  to  "bob"  in  reply.  I  write  this  only 
to  amuse  you.  For  it  was  Miss  Sandford,  I  think,  the 
"  Jamaica  Ginger "  of  the  cupola,  whom  I  meet  so 
mysteriously. 

Always  yours, 

HARRY. 


150  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  TWELFTH. 

XV. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  August  25,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  ought  to  be  able  to  send  you  a 
more  satisfactory  letter  than  I  have  yet  written  you ; 
for  the  Vacation  School  is  over  and  our  vacation  has 
begun.  But  I  foresee  that  I  am  not  likely  yet  to 
reach  that  "summer  leisure,"  of  which  I  have 
dreamed,  even  though  my  daily  occupation  is  over. 

Our  school  closed  last  week  and  is  considered  a 
great  success.  It  was,  indeed,  a  delight  to  see  the 
interest  that  all  the  children  took  in  it  day  after  day. 
I  am  very  much  surprised  myself  to  see  how  much 
they  have  learned  in  so  many  different  ways,  and  yet 
without  "book  lessons."  I  can  believe  that  the  in 
fluence  of  the  kindergartens  is  already  showing  how 
much  more  children  can  be  taught  by  "  observation," 
by  looking  at  things  and  seeing  how  they  are  made, 
than  by  cramming  and  being  forced  to  study  and  com 
mit  to  memory  things  that  they  cannot  understand. 

I  have  an  idea  that  this  might  be  carried  too  far, 
and  I  think  it  would  be  a  pity  not  to  cultivate  the 
memory  of  children,  while  it  is  easy  for  them  to  learn 
things  "  by  heart,"  as  we  say.  Perhaps,  after  all,  that 
is  the  true  phrase,  and  what  they  truly  learn  "by 
heart "  may  always  stay  by  them,  while  what  they 
really  learn  "  by  rote  "  is  only  a  stumbling-block  to 
them.  I  arn  sure  I  am  grateful  for  having  been  taught 
many  things  "  by  heart "  that  continue  to  stay  by  me 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  151 

and  help  me,  and  that  I  learned,  I  can't  remember  how 
and  when,  —  a  list  of  dates,  for  instance,  on  which  I 
find  myself  hanging  a  great  many  valuable  things. 

Many  valuable  things  these  children  had  to  carry 
home  with  them  from  their  summer  schooling,  and 
though  they  did  little  with  books,  I  can  see  that  they 
saw  that  in  this  study  of  many  things  they  were  dis 
covering  the  real  use  of  books,  and  learning  why  they 
were  made  to  study  them,  and  what  a  pleasure  they 
might  find  in  reading  them.  I  know  many  of  the  boys 
in  my  class  are  planning  to  go  to  the  Public  Library 
in  the  days  of  the  vacation  remaining  to  them  before 
school,  and  I  gave  many  of  them  lists  of  books  that 
they  are  to  find  there,  on  subjects  that  I  have  talked 
about  to  them. 

Among  other  things,  I  have  told  them  of  the 
World's  Fair  and  the  great  Centennial,  and  they  are 
going  to  read  all  about  Columbus.  Of  course  I  told 
them  of  the  new  life  of  Columbus,  published  by  J. 
Stillman  Smith  and  Company.  Then,  I  am  going  with 
a  party  to  visit  Bunker  Hill,  and  they  have  promised 
to  read  an  account  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  before 
we  go. 

I  wish  you  could  see  some  of  the  things  these  schol 
ars  have  made.  Hetty,  the  old  housekeeper  here,  is 
much  delighted  because  I  succeeded  in  getting  t\vo 
favorite  old  chairs  reseated  for  her  by  some  of  "the 
class "  who  were  putting  fresh  straw  seats  into  old 
chairs.  She  is  quite  proud  of  them  because  they  used 
to  be  in  Aunt  Martha's  grandmother's  parlor,  and  she 
has  held  on  to  them  as  relics  of  great  elegance ;  but 
the  seats  were  all  worn  out. 

I  went  with  Mike  to  his  own  home,  and  he  was 
equally  pleased  at  showing  me  his  grandmother, 
sitting  in  an  old  "  cane-bottom  "  chair  that  he  had 
reseated ;  and  she  beamed  over  with  pleasure  as  she 


152  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

rose  to  show  me  how  fine  it  looked.  "  And  we  were 
just  going  to  cut  it  [up  for  firewood,"  she  exclaimed, 
"when  Mike  took  it  off  and  brought  it  back  as  good 
as  new.  And  it  kept  him  out  of  mischief  at  the 
same  time,  too,"  she  added.  I  can't  help  feeling  that 
these  Vacation  Schools  are  among  the  best  things  that 
Boston  provides  for  her  children. 

We  had  a  delightful  "  doorstep  "  talk  on  this  subject 
the  other  day. ,  I  went  out  to  Arlington  to  spend  a 
day  and  night  after  the  close  of  my  school,  and  it  was 
on  the  pleasant  doorsteps  at  the  Brands',  looking  out 
from  their  porch  into  the  moonlight  on  the  lawn,  that 
we  sat  talking  till  a  late  hour.  We  fell  to  telling, 
each  of  us,  what  we  could  remember  best,  the  Latin 
verbs,  the  French  verbs,  the  lists  of  the  Latin  preposi 
tions  ;  and  we  presently  found  there  was  one  thing  we 
could  all  of  us  remember,  and  it  was  that  delightful 
string  of  nonsense  that  we  all  of  us  had  learned  from 
Miss  Edgeworth  :  "  So  she  went  into  the  garden  to  cut 
a  cabbage  leaf  to  make  an  apple  pie  of,  when  a  great 
she-bear  popped  his  head  into  the  shop.  'What! 
no  soap  ? '  So  he  died  !  And  she  very  imprudently 
married  the  barber,  and  there  were  present  at  the 
wedding,  the  Joblilies,  and  the  Garyulies  and  the  Pic- 
caninies,  and  the  grand  Panjandrum  himself  with  the 
little  round  button  on  top.  And  they  all  fell  to  play 
ing  catch-as-catch-can,  till  the  gunpowder  ran  out  at 
the  heels-  of  their  boots." 

I  write  it  all  out  for  you;  for  I  am  really  afraid 
your  education  was  neglected  at  this  point  and  that 
you  never  heard  it.  But  I  shall  have  to  add  that  we 
decided  that  it  might  be  considered  a  mark  of  our 
high  education  that  we  were  all  able  to  repeat  it,  — 
some  of  us  a  little  mixed  on  the  subject  of  the  Garyu 
lies  and  the  Piccaninies,  but  well  up  on  the  rest.  For 
its  history  I  must  refer  you  to  the  second  part  of  Miss 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  153 

Edgeworth's  "  Harry  and  Lucy,"  for  I  have  too  much 
else  to  write  about. 

Among  other  things,  I  ventured  to  speak  of  some 
thing  that  has  been  on  my  mind  since  I  have  been 
teaching  these  boys.  I  notice  that  they  all  read  much 
easier  from  their  primers  than  from  any  other  books. 
Now  it  is  true  that  in  some  of  these  primers  can  be 
found  very  interesting  stories,  and  I  know  very  well 
that  children  like  to  read  over  and  over  the  same 
stories  that  they  are  familiar  with  ;  but  I  know 
that  they  do  like  to  read  something  new,  and  I 
have  formed  the  idea  that  they  find  the  large  print 
of  the  primers  easier.  Now,  why  need  the  primers, 
even  for  the  youngest  child,  be  put  in  such  large  print  ? 
Their  eyes  are  as  fresh  as  ours,  and  what  use  is  there 
in  enlarging  the  letters  for  them  ?  It  might  be  a 
good  plan  to  put  books  into  large  print  for  elderly 
people,  but  a  child  ought  not  to  read  a  large  letter 
more  easily  than  a  small  one,  if  it  is  sufficiently  plain. 
As  it  is,  the  children  all  have  to  learn  over  again  how 
to  read  in  common  type,  having  been  taught  to  read 
in  large  letters. 

Some  of  the  others  exclaimed  against  this,  and  Mr. 
Jones  said  that  the  reason  the  children  liked  large 
type  was  because  it  made  less  to  read,  and  they  could 
get  through  quicker.  I  did  not  agree  with  him,  and 
said  that  children  certainly  liked  long  stories,  and 
always  wanted  "more,"  if  a  story  stopped  off  soon. 
Godfrey  Brand  agreed  with  me  in  this,  and  said  he 
remembered  how  he  hated  the  first  Latin  book  he 
learned  to  translate,  his  Liber  Primus,  because  the 
sentences  were  so  short ;  and  there  were  little,  short 
fables  and  anecdotes  that  were  very  tiresome,  and 
he  only  got  on  when  he  had  something  long,  to 
read.  His  father  gave  him,  for  instance,  "  Eobinson 
Crusoe  "  in  Latin,  and  he  learned  a  quantity  of  new 


154  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

words  and  more  of  the  language  than  in  months' 
study  of  the  primers. 

They  were  all  of  them  joking  me  about  our  last 
meeting  with  our  friend,  Harry  Merton  —  my  "dis 
tant"  friend,  as  they  call  him.  But  I  am  going  to 
write  about  more  serious  things  first,  lest  I  should  be 
interrupted  and  they  should  be  left  out ;  and  I  long  to 
tell  you  of  last  week's  lecture  at  the  Old  South.  Be 
fore  we  went  to  it,  Anna  and  I  had  found  a  chance  to 
go  to  the  old  meeting-house  to  study  the  numerous 
articles  on  exhibition  there  at  our  leisure.  Here  are 
many  most  interesting  things.  There  is  so  much  to 
throw  a  light  on  the  old  colonial  history,  —  old  his 
toric  implements  of  the  Stone  Age,  with  tomahawks, 
arrows,  and  spears,  and  many  things  that  told  of  the 
terrible  Indian  warfare,  which  I  described  to  one  of 
my  Vacation  School  boys  whom  I  had  invited  to  go 
with  us.  We  looked  at  Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  and  I 
asked  my  boy  how  he  would  like  to  have  such  words 
in  his  spelling-book.  For  there  was  a  placard  giving 
the  longest  word,  "  Wutappesittukgussunnookwehtunk- 
quoh."  Sammy  was  much  staggered  by  it.  It  means 
"  Kneeling  down  to  him."  Our  language  surely  looks 
a  little  simpler. 

Here  was  a  skillet  made  from  the  bell  of  the  Old 
South,  an  older  Old  South  than  this.  It  was  taken 
down  in  1729  to  give  place  to  the  present  building. 
The  skillet  was  presented  by  Mrs.  Hannah  Dilla- 
way,  of  Somerville,  the  granddaughter  of  the  original 
owner.  We  saw  an  autograph  letter  of  General  Wash 
ington,  written  in  December,  1798,  and  a  remnant  of 
the  flag  that  hung  from  the  Liberty  Tree  on  Washing 
ton  Street  in  1775.  Here  was  a  silver  thimble  marked 
T.  H.  How  little  did  the  Thankful  Holden  who 
owned  it  in  1765  imagine  that  it  would  be  so  pre 
served  !  I  must  tell  you  of  another  thing  that  amused 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  155 

us  very  much.  This  was  a  printed  notice  of  an  enter 
tainment  or  "sociable  "  that  took  place  here  in  Eevo- 
lutionary  times.  At  the  end  this  information  was 
given:  "Nabor  Zodiga  Turner  will  be  there  to  see 
that  nobodye  yields  to  levitye  more  than  is  becominge 
and  to  see  that  nobodye  takes  more  Baked  Beans  than 
is  consistent  withe  these  fashionable  times."  Is  not 
this  delightful  ?  I  think  I  shall  have  this  printed  for 
use  in  our  Sewing  Circle.  The  truth  is  that  we  are 
apt  to  be  too  solemn  on  such  occasions  at  home,  and 
Caroline  and  I  have  to  turn  ourselves  into  a  sort  of 
minstrel  show  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  our  Sewing 
Circle  old  ladies,  who  sit  doggedly  sewing  their  seams, 
as  if  there  was  nothing  amusing  in  life.  But  perhaps 
the  notice  itself  may  excite  a  little  "  levitye,"  —  not 
more  "  than  is  becominge."  Our  old  housekeeper, 
Hetty,  furnishes  us  Sunday  mornings  with  " truly" 
Boston  baked  beans  and  brown  bread.  We  propose 
now  not  to  take  more  "  than  is  consistent  withe  these 
fashionable  times." 

Besides  all  these  and  many  other  older  relics,  we 
saw  a  cup  made  from  wood  from  the  log  cabin  of 
President  Lincoln.  The  first  afternoon  that  we  went 
we  had  read  the  inscription  on  the  pulpit  window : 
"  Through  this  window  Warren  entered  to  deliver  his 
famous  oration  on  the  Boston  Massacre."  The  old 
pulpit  is  no  longer  there.  There  is  a  platform  below 
and  a  reading-desk  for  the  speakers,  and  the  window 
with  its  inscription  is  far  above.  Over  a  door  oppo 
site,  which  was  probably  the  principal  entrance,  is 
another  inscription  :  "  Here  Washington  entered  after 
the  evacuation  of  Boston.  Looking  down  upon  the 
havoc  caused  by  the  British  riding-school,  he  said 
reverently  that  he  should  have  thought  that  the  Eng 
lish,  who  had  so  much  respect  for  their  own  churches, 
would  have  respected  those  of  others."  Above  a  large 


156  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

gallery  there  is  another,  still  higher,  which  we  were 
told  was  intended  for  the  colored  people.  And  I  re 
membered  that  Miss  Dexter,  in  describing  the  inside 
of  the  old  Brattle  Street  Church,  told  me  that  there 
was  such  a  gallery,  placed  high  up  over  the  organ,  for 
the  colored  people  there. 

But  after  this  description,  I  must  tell  you  of  the 
lecture  here,  a  week  ago  last  Wednesday.  It  was  an 
intensely  hot  day,  yet  Anna  and  I  persevered  in  our 
plan  of  going  to  the  lecture,  taking  a  car  to  the  head 
of  School  Street.  Hardly  any  one  was  in  the  car  ;  but 
as  we  walked  down  the  street  we  passed  through  a 
little  crowd  gathered  around  the  Parker  House  door. 
We  looked  at  each  other  with  sad  questioning  whether 
we  could  believe  the  sorrowful  news  we  heard  spoken 
of,  —  that  the  poet  Lowell  was  dead.  This  was  our 
first  intelligence  of  it,  and  we  walked  on  silently  into 
the  old  church.  We  were  scarcely  there  and  had 
found  some  seats  in  the  large,  quiet  assembly,  when 
a  sudden  thunder  storm  came  up  and  the  whole  place 
was  darkened.  It  seemed  as  if  it  were  the  beginning 
of  a  grand,  solemn  service  in  memory  of  the  dead,  in 
this  old  building  that  might,  in  a  certain  way,  serve 
for  a  Westminster  Abbey  of  our  later  time.  And 
Mr.  Mead,  who  was  to  introduce  the  lecturer,  passed 
on  to  announce  the  death  of  Lowell  and  to  speak  of 
his  character  and  his  writings.  There  could  not  have 
been  a  more  magnificent  service  in  such  a  place. 
Professor  Hart  was  to  lecture  on  "  The  Eevival  of 
Learning,"  and  he  began  with  a  quotation  from  Dante 
and  paid  a  tribute  to  the  poet  who  had  been  such  a 
student  of  Dante.  All  of  his  lecture  seemed,  some 
how,  appropriate  to  this  subject ;  for  he  gave  a  history 
of  the  universities  established  about  the  year  1200, 
and  he  told  how  the  students  flocked  to  these  univer 
sities,  some  of  them  having  as  many  as  fifteen  thou- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  157 

sand  students.  Was  not  this  interesting  ?  You  cannot 
think  what  a  consecration  came  to  the  service  from 
the  magnificent  peals  of  thunder  above  us. 

The  sun  had  come  out  as  we  went  home.  We 
passed  up  through  Winter  Street  and  around  the 
Common,  and,  sitting  down  on  a  deserted  bench  in  a 
quiet  place,  we  recalled  our  favorite  passages  from 
Lowell.  I  repeated  to  Anna  the  poem  I  like  best  of 
all,  "  The  Beggar  : "  — 

"  A  beggar  through  the  world  am  I,  — 
From  place  to  place  I  wander  by, 
Fill  up  my  pilgrim's  scrip  for  me, 
For  Christ's  sweet  sake  and  charity ! 

"  A  little  of  thy  steadfastness, 
Rounded  with  leafy  gracefulness, 
Old  oak,  give  me,  — 

That  the  world's  blasts  may  round  me  blow, 
And  I  yield  gently  to  and  fro, 
While  my  stout-hearted  trunk  below 
And  firm-set  roots  unshaken  be. 

"  Some  of  thy  stern,  unyielding  might, 
Enduring  still  through  day  and  night 
Rude  tempest-shock  and  withering  blight,  — 
That  I  may  keep  at  bay 
The  changeful  April  sky  of  chance 
And  the  strong  tide  of  circumstance, — 
Give  me,  old  granite  gray. 

"  Some  of  thy  pensiveness  serene, 
Some  of  thy  never-dying  green, 
Put  in  this  scrip  of  mine,  — 
That  griefs  may  fall  like  snow-flakes  light, 
And  deck  me  in  a  robe  of  white, 
Ready  to  be  an  angel  bright, — 
O  sweetly  mournful  pine. 

"  A  little  of  thy  merriment, 
Of  thy  sparkling,  light  content, 


158  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Give  me,  my  cheerful  brook,  — 
That  I  may  still  be  full  of  glee 
And  gladsomeness,  where'er  I  be, 
Though  fickle  fate  hath  prisoned  me 
In  some  neglected  nook. 

"  Ye  have  been  very  kind  and  good 
To  me,  since  I  've  been  in  the  wood, 
Ye  have  gone  ni^h  to  fill  my  heart ; 
But,  good-by,  kind  friends,  every  oiie 
I  've  far  to  go  ere  set  of  sun ; 
Of  all  good  things  I  would  have  part. 
The  day  was  high  ere  I  could  start 
And  so  my  journey 's  scarce  begun. 

"  Heaven  help  me  !  how  could  I  forget 
To  beg  of  thee,  dear  violet  ? 
Some  of  thy  modesty, 
That  blossoms  here  as  well,  unseen, 
As  if  before  the  world  thou  'dst  been, 
O,  give,  to  strengthen  me." 

The  next  lecture  was  also  very  interesting,  on  "  The 
Changes  which  Gunpowder  Made."  It  was  given  by 
Mr.  Frank  A.  Hill,  Principal  of  the  Cambridge  High 
School.  About  two  thirds  of  the  audience  were  chil 
dren,  apparently  from  the  High  Schools,  and  they  lis 
tened  most  attentively  ;  for  they  were  much  interested 
in  his  description  of  the  suits  of  armor.  He  described 
the  baron  of  that  day  and  showed  how  all  the  pieces 
of  armor  were  made  and  fitted,  explaining  the  reason 
for  each  piece  and  telling  the  children  how  they  could 
see  specimens  of  the  complete  armor  at  the  Art  Mu 
seum.  He  showed  us,  too,  how  helpless  the  people 
were,  who  could  get  their  rights  only  by  conquering 
these  iron  men,  so  that  we  really  felt  glad  to  hear  of 
the  discovery  of  gunpowder,  and  that  in  consequence, 
because  cannon  were  invented  and  later  the  musket, 
the  common  people  were  free.  He  quoted  Carlyle  as 
saying  that  gunpowder  makes  all  men  alike  tall,  or 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  159 

something  to  that  effect.  It  was  a  new  thing  to  me  to 
look  upon  cannon  and  muskets  as  civilizers.  We  had 
a  beautiful,  bright  afternoon,  and  the  children  were 
out  in  great  numbers.  The  girls  looked  very  bright 
and  fresh  in  their  summer  gowns  and  hats. 

And  this  reminds  me  of  the  "  sand  gardens  "  again, 
where  I  saw  the  younger  children  made  so  happy.  I 
believe  they  are  closed  now  with  the  Vacation  Schools, 
but  they  have  been  going  on  every  afternoon  in  seven 
teen  places  and  perhaps  more  this  year.  The  "  gar 
dens  "  are  like  three  immense  cigar-boxes,  twenty  feet 
by  twenty,  and  half  full  of  sand.  Each  child  has  a 
trowel  furnished  to  dig  with,  and  such  fun  as  they  do 
have.  Children  of  all  ages,  from  babies  who  can 
hardly  sit  up  to  girls  of  twelve  or  thirteen,  are  there, 
having  a  most  happy  and  quiet  time,  filling  boxes, 
kettles,  little  wheelbarrows,  wooden  tubs  and  divers 
other  things  with  the  sand,  and  then  emptying  it  out 
in  little  heaps.  It  is  too  funny  to  see  the  serious  way 
in  which  they  roll  round  their  little  wheelbarrows 
and  tip  out  the  sand,  as  though  they  were  doing  some 
great  work.  Some  of  them  build  houses  or  roads,  but 
the  greater  part  just  fill  and  empty  their  barrows  in  a 
most  business-like  way.  There  are  a  great  many  of 
the  mothers  with  them,  who  seem  to  take  solid  enjoy 
ment  in  just  looking  on.  I  have  wished,  whenever  I 
have  seen  them,  that  I  had  time  and  a  trowel,  as  I 
would  like  to  have  joined  the  party. 

I  have  been  again  to  the  Charlesbank  Park,  of 
which  I  wrote,  where  I  first  saw  some  of  the  "  sand 
gardens."  There  were  probably  fifty  children  in  the 
three  sand  beds  and  many  others  standing  outside,  fill 
ing  their  pails  from  the  beds  and  making  most  deli 
cious  pies  on  the  benches.  These  little  cooks,  I 
noticed,  dug  the  sand  rather  deep ;  for,  as  one  little 
girl  told  me,  "When  it  was  wet,  it  baked  better." 


160  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

The  children  were  all  coming  and  going  at  their  own 
free  will ;  as  soon  as  they  got  tired  of  the  sand,  they 
quietly  left  and  went  to  the  gymnasium  or  to  the 
other  yard  to  enjoy  the  delightful  swings.  The 
teacher  of  the  gymnasium  was  walking  about,  helping 
and  directing  the  children.  When  some  of  the  chil 
dren  were  tired  of  exercising  they  came  again  to  the 
fascinating  "sand  gardens,"  before  taking  off  their 
gymnasium  suits.  Afterwards  I  saw  the  same  girls, 
who  had  put  their  suits  in  the  lockers,  reading  "  Our  Lit 
tle  Ones,"  "  Babyland  "  and  other  magazines  for  chil 
dren,  which  the  "  locker  lady  "  handed  to  them.  There 
was  a  most  delightful  breeze,  and  everything  looked  so 
bright  and  pleasant  that  I  could  not  help  thinking 
what  a  blessing  this  park  is  to  these  children.  For, 
from  their  faces  and  dress  and  general  appearance,  I 
should  say  they  were  from  the  very  poorest  families. 
The  reports  of  the  "  sand  gardens  "  of  last  year  show 
how  perfectly  successful  they  have  been.  Not  only  are 
children  amused  all  summer,  but  they  are  kept  out  of 
dark  and  dirty  tenement  houses  ;  many  of  them  are 
taken  from  brutal  parents ;  and  they  are  taught,  be 
sides,  habits  of  cleanliness  and  how  to  obey,  and  — 
even  in  play -time  —  how  to  consider  each  other. 
Quiet  and  orderly  games  take  the  place  of  a  mere 
noisy  good  time,  and  the  children  are  pleased,  when 
visitors  come  in,  to  exhibit  the  new  songs  and  marches 
they  have  learned. 

I  have  not  told  you  of  a  lovely  visit  to  Cambridge 
that  I  made  with  the  Brands,  when  I  was  staying 
with  them.  We  went,  one  afternoon,  to  see  some 
friends  of  the  Brands  who  took  us  to  the  Agassiz 
Museum ;  and  I  was  perfectly  delighted  at  the  lovely 
botanical  collection  of  flowers,  — that  is,  my  dear,  it  is 
a  collection  made  for  botanical  purposes,  where  you 
can  study  carefully  all  the  parts  of  the  flower.  For, 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  161 

instead  of  having  to  work  with  the  fading  stamens  or 
seed-vessels,  you  have  them  all  perfect,  because  they 
are  made  of  glass.  I  think  one  shudders  at  the1  idea 
of  glass  flowers,  as  being  something  artificial  and  con 
ventional  ;  but  just  one  glance  at  these  beautiful 
specimens  made  me  perfectly  in  love  with  them. 
They  are  surely  the  most  wonderful  and  beautiful 
things  I  ever  saw,  and  I  found  it  hard  to  take  their 
word  for  it  when  Rosamond  and  the  others  told  me 
they  were  really  made  of  glass.  No  one  would  ever 
guess  it.  You  seem  to  see  the  branches  of  the  real 
plants  placed  in  the  glass  cases,  the  flower  and  stalk 
and  leaves  ;  then  all  the  parts  of  the  flowers,  with  here 
and  there  a  magnified  section  of  some  one  part  of  the 
flower.  This  exquisite  work  was  done,  I  believe,  in 
Switzerland,  by  some  descendants  of  the  famous  Ve 
netian  workers  in  glass,  a  father  and  son,  who  seem 
to  have  a  peculiar  artistic  power  in  creating  these  ex 
quisite  specimens.  I  think  the  family  name  of  the 
artists  —  for  surely  they  ought  to  be  so  called  —  is 
Blaschka.  The  flowers  are  not  yet  arranged.  The 
coloring  and  texture  is  wonderful.  I  cannot  describe 
them  or  give  you  any  idea  of  them.  They  were  pre 
sented  to  the  museum  by  Mrs.  E.  C.  Ware  and  Miss 
Mary  L.  Ware  in  memory  of  Dr.  C.  E.  Ware.  These 
ladies  found  them  in  Switzerland. 

I  had  another  delightful  excursion  with  the  Brands. 
We  drove  over  to  Waltham  and  to  the  Charles  Eiver, 
where  we  took  a  boat  to  row  up  the  river.  It  was  a 
peaceful,  lovely  afternoon,  and  we  had  quite  a  gay 
party  together,  three  or  four  of  us.  And  then  came 
our  little  adventure.  We  turned  a  corner  suddenly 
and  met  a  boat  going  down  the  river,  far  away  on  the 
other  side.  It  gave  us  a  little  start,  for  Godfrey 
Brand  was  pointing  out  something  to  us  on  the  shore 
on  our  side,  I  turned  suddenly,  to  find  a  young  gen- 


162  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

tleman  bowing  to  me,  just  as  lie  was  passing  beyond 
us.  It  was  Harry  Merton,  my  "distant"  friend,  or 
the  "  mute,  yet  glorious  "  Merton,  as  Mr.  Jones  insists 
upon  calling  him  —  though  I  declare  that  he  can  talk 
very  well  if  he  ever  has  a  chance.  For  I  remember 
how  agreeable  he  was  on  that  famous  Class  Day.  It 
was  he  who  told  me  about  the  crowds  in  the  streets  in 
Boston,  and  how  two  or  three  women  a  week  are 
killed  by  being  run  over  at  Park  Square,  and  how  the 
policemen  have  to  be  constantly  renewed  at  the  corner 
of  School  Street,  as  so  many  are  killed  there.  And 
they  all  laughed  much  at  his  way  of  putting  it. 

But  the  thing  grows  more  and  more  amusing.  For 
the  afternoon  we  were  at  Cambridge,  a  friend  of  the 
Brands  went  about  with  us,  and  he  said  he  had  just 
been  showing  the  flowers  to  Mr.  Merton,  "whom  I 
think  you  know,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  as  I  remember 
seeing  him  with  you  Class  Day.  I  wonder  you  did 
not  meet  him  as  you  came  in;  but  perhaps  he  took 
the  short  cut  across  the  grass."  We  all  looked  at  each 
other  and  laughed.  We  had  seen  a  youth  striding  off 
in  the  other  direction.  Then,  another  day  we  went 
again  to  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  In  turning  a  corner 
near  the  entrance  we  came  suddenly  upon  an  open 
carriage,  a  gentleman  on  the  front  seat  driving  two 
ladies.  He  turned  his  head  suddenly  and  in  time  for 
me  to  bow  to  him.  Again,  it  was  Mr.  Harry  Merton  ! 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  163 


CHAPTER  THIRTEENTH. 

XVI. 

HARRY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

CAMBRIDGE,  August  31,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  Just  think  that  summer  ends 
this  rainy  day ! 

In  a  little  note  which  Fanfan  sends  with  the  parcel 
of  stockings,  she  begs  me  to  send  her  a  little  line  all 
to  herself.  She  says  she  hates  to  read  a  letter  which 
she  shares  with  all  the  other  people  in  the  world.  I 
believe  the  COMMONWEALTH  people  would  be  well 
pleased  if  she  did.  You  know  the  Ten  Times  One 
Club  thinks  there  are  more  than  a  thousand  million 
people  in  the  world.  If  there  were  ten  in  a  family 
—  and  there  are  not  —  this  would  make  at  least  a 
hundred  million  families,  and  that  would  require  a 
hundred  million  COMMONWEALTHS  every  week.  I  can 
see  how  that  would  be  fine  ;  for  all  the  people  would 
be  so  intelligent  then,  and  sensible  and  manly  and 
agreeable,  that  there  would  be  no  Balmacedas  and  no 
rebellions ;  no  houses  would  crash  down  without 
cause ;  no  sailboats  would  be  overloaded.  There  would 
be  no  lies  in  newspapers,  no  drought  on  prairies.  Let 
us  indeed  hope  that  this  will  happen. 

When  I  got  this  letter  of  Fanfan's  it  set  me  think 
ing.  So  when  I  took  my  last  round  to  the  office  I 
asked  them  how  many  they  did  print.  They  said  the 
number  varied  —  less  or  more,  according  as  they  had 
one  of  my  letters  in  or  did  not ;  and  they  said  so  little 
that  I  could  not  find  out,  without  asking  directly, 


164  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

which  was  less  and  which  was  more.  They  are  print 
ing  the  woman's  letters  on  the  "off"  weeks,  but  I 
never  see  them.  They  did  say,  however,  that  they 
were  glad  when  they  printed  three  hundred  thousand 
copies  a  week.  Well,  I  asked  a  pressman,  a  good 
fellow  whom  I  meet  at  Thompson's  Spa,  how  many 
they  could  run  off  in  one  hour.  He  said  he  did  not 
know  what  presses  they  use,  but  that  four  or  five 
thousand  an  hour  was  enough,  if  they  had  handsome 
cuts.  And  I  said  they  had.  So  you  see,  at  eight 
hours  a  day  —  and  Fanfan  does  not  want  any  one  to 
work  more,  I  am  sure  —  the  letters  would  have  to  be 
electrotyped  twenty-five  hundred  times,  and  twenty- 
five  hundred  pressmen  kept  at  work  with  twenty-five 
hundred  presses,  so  that  the  shepherd  boy  in  Arabia 
Felix  and  the  seal  hunters  on  Oonalaska  might  have 
their  COMMONWEALTHS. 

What  an  interesting  community  this  would  make, 
would  it  not  ?  These  twenty-five  hundred  pressmen 
and  their  wives  and  children  would  make  one  ward  in 
Boston.  They  would  have  the  proud  consciousness 
of  supplying  a  world  with  its  better  reading !  That 
would  be  a  little  paradise  in  the  tenderness  of  its 
affections  and  the  sweetness  and  light  of  its  surround 
ings.  But  I  forbear,  dear  Mother !  These  are  only 
a  few  of  the  reflections  which  Fanfan's  letter  has 
opened  before  me.  But  I  ought  not  to  inflict  them 
on  you. 

I  will  say,  however,  that  I  believe  I  know, what 
Fanfan  means.  For  I  know  how  much  more  I  was 
pleased  by  her  dear  little  note  than  I  should  have 
been  by  all  the  narrative  she  could  have  sent  of  the 
ups  and  downs  of  Atherton,  how  Mrs.  Knox's  coach 
man  had  sprained  his  ankle,  or  what  had  become  of 
Ceylon  Ross.  In  an  old  magazine  article  I  was  reading 
yesterday,  it  said  that  facts  are  not  the  material  of 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  165 

conversation  any  more  than  an  earthen  plate  is  the 
material  from  which  one  makes  a  pie.  And  I  suppose 
that  the  same  is  true  of  letter-writing.  So  I  beg  you 
to  thank  Fanfan  for  her  nice  note,  and  say  that  I 
believe  what  this  unknown  writer  says  of  conversation 
is  true  also  of  the  "  eloquence  of  letters." 

All  the  same,  I  suppose  you,  dear  mother,  do  want 
to  know  of  a  few  such  vulgar  facts  as  (1)  whether  I 
am  alive  or  dead ;  (2)  whether  I  have  enough  to  eat, 
and  of  what  quality ;  (3)  whether  I  spend  my  time  in 
those  haunts  of  revelry  and  debauchery  against  which 
dear  Dr.  Primrose  warned  me,  or  in .  those  higher 
regions  of  elevated  culture  and  of  the  true  humanities 
to  which  he  bade  me  mount.  So  I  must  mention  some 
facts,  while  I  know  dear  Fanfan  is  dying  to  have  me 

—  I  do  not  say  tell  some  lies,  but  —  embroider  on  the 
canvas  of  these  facts,  or,  as  the  unknown  writer  says, 
make   a  pie,    which  he   would    have    gladly   spelled 
"  pye,"  in  the  shaping  of  these  plates. 

Firstly,  then,  as  dear  Dr.  Primrose  would  have  said, 
and  as  I  see  the  very  best  of  them  still  say  sometimes, 

—  firstly,  there  is  not   business  enough  done  in  the 
office  to  occupy  four  flies.    I  suppose  that  is  the  reason 
why  we  were  moved  here  in  summer.     I  do  not  see 
that  the  chief  worries.    In  fact  he  is  not  here  much  to 
worry.     He  has  a  lovely  place  at  Manchester,  which  is 
fifteen  or  twenty  miles  northeast  of  us,  a  place  where 
your  south  wind  is  off  the  water,  which,  they  say,  hap 
pens  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.     Any  way,  it  happens 
so  in  the  Narragansett  country,  in  Beverly,  and  in  Man 
chester.     The  way  I  know  it  is  a  lovely  place  is  that 
George,  who  is  the  chief's  special  clerk,  has  to  go  down 
there  with  parcels,  and  sometimes  to  write  the  chief's 
shorthand  for  him,  and  he  says  it  is  just  perfect.     As 
for  the  chief  himself,  he  only  shows  up  on  Monday 
morning  and  perhaps  Thursday.     George  and  Mr.  Out- 


166  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

lake  open  the  letters,  and  the  rest  of  us  "  fool "  round. 
We  file  old  letters,  alter  the  boxes  of  1879,  1883, 1885, 
and  so  on,  and  pretend  we  are  of  use.  The  cashier  is 
as  clever  as  he  can  be,  so  if  there  is  any  decent  excuse, 
and  if  you  have  not  asked  for  leave  the  very  day  be 
fore,  you  can  get  off  to  go  anywhere.  Indeed,  we  close 
the  office  now  at  three-thirty,  except  that  we  take  turns 
to  see  who  shall  stay  after  that. 

For  all  this  we  shall  have  to  pay  when  the  busy  sea 
son  comes  round.  I  am  not  afraid  that  the  market  for 
clothes-pins  has  become  glutted,  as  the  books  say.  Do 
you  know  what  that  chair-maker  up  in  Worcester 
county  said  to  our  Mrs.  Outlake  ?  She  had  been  all 
through  his  factory  and  was  having  some  lemonade  and 
a  biscuit  in  one  of  the  great  store-rooms,  when  she 
said  civilly,  "  I  do  not  see  where  all  these  chairs  go 
to." 

"Well!"  said  the  manufacturer,  well  pleased,  "I 
guess  settin'-down  ain't  gone  out  of  fashion  yet."  I 
have  like  views  as  to  our  clothes-pins. 
,  So  you  see  I  have  more  time  for  loafing  than  I  shall 
have  by  and  by.  Only  it  was  desperately  hot  last  week. 
The  summer  climate  of  Boston  involves  three  days  out 
of  five  when  you  breathe  a  sort  of  thin  paste,  which  is 
called  air,  made  up  of  a  good  deal  of  nitrogen,  a  great 
deal  of  hot  water,  more  or  less  carbonic  acid,  some 
thing  sticky,  —  I  do  not  know  what,  —  no  ozone,  and 
just  enough  oxygen  to  keep  you  alive.  Ask  Fanfan  to 
look  in  her  book  and  find  how  much  that  is. 

The  thermometer  has  not  much  to  do  with  it.  I 
mean  it  is  not  much  worse  at  93°  than  it  is  at  82°. 
It  is  this  pasty,  sticky  sort  of  feeling  which  makes 
you  uncomfortable.  You  do  not  want  to  eat  much. 
You  do  not  want  to  do  much.  If  you  have  just  a  little 
to  do,  say  a  good  book  to  read,  or,  best  of  all,  if 
you  are  on  the  extension  of  South  Boston,  sitting  with 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  167 

two  or  three  thousand  other  people  on  the  benches 
there,  with  a  book  in  your  hand  or  the  last  COMMON 
WEALTH,  so  that  you  could  read  if  you  wanted,  why,  it 
all  goes  well  enough.  Nobody  does  anything  of  any 
account  in  any  other  office  more  than  we  do  in  ours. 
And  the  nights,  out  at  our  place  any  way,  are  suffi 
ciently  comfortable.  The  best  time  of  the  day  is  from 
five  to  nine  in  the  morning.  But  it  is  not  one  person 
in  fifty  who  knows  that  it  is  light  after  half-past  four. 
The  milkmen  do,  and  the  icemen. 

You  ask  about  my  lunch.  Sometimes  I  take  some 
thing  in  from  Cambridge  to  the  office  and  eat  it  there 
with  a  cup  of  coffee.  We  are  high  there  and  overlook 
all  the  bay  and  have  a  good  breeze  if  there  is  one  any 
where  ;  so  that  of  a  deadly  hot  day  you  are  as  well  off 
there  as  anywhere.  We  have  facilities  for  a  cup  of 
hot  tea  or  coffee,  have  a  few  table  things,  and  the 
young  ladies  attend  to  such  things  so  well  that  you 
must  not  think  I  am  starving  because  I  do  not  go  to  a 
restaurant.  We  are  not  far,  you  know,  from  Parker's 
and  Young's,  and  there  are  clubs,  like  the  Press  Club 
and  other  clubs  of  gentlemen,  where,  as  like  as  not, 
somebody  asks  you  to  go  in.  As  yet  we  have  not 
formed  any  club  of  clothes-pin  makers.  Really  the 
place  which  would  interest  you  most  is  this  Thomp 
son's  Spa  T  spoke  of.  I  believe  there  is  really  no 
Thompson  now,  and  a  gentleman  named  Eaton  carries 
it  on.  It  is  as  often  called  "The  Temperance  Bar"  as 
anything  else,  and  I  heard  somebody  say,  the  other 
day,  that  it  was  the  most  attractive,  and,  he  said,  the 
most  hospitable  liquor  saloon  in  Boston.  But  it  is 
a  liquor  saloon  where  all  the  drinks  are  "  temperance  " 
drinks.  Somebody  told  me  that  they  had  more  than 
fifty  drinks  on  their  bill  of  fare. 

When  your  Miss  Clara  Fenton  asked  me  what  was 
"the  most  curious  thing  in  the  social  institutions  of 


168  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Boston,"  and  she  did  put  it  in  that  high  and  mighty 
way,  I  told  her  —  not  to  fail  of  an  answer  —  that  "  The 
Temperance  Bar  "  was.  She  asked  if  she  could  see  it. 
I  said  yes,  if  she  would  go  at  the  right  time ;  but  that 
in  the  middle  of  the  day  it  was  so  crowded  that  no 
body  could  get  in  without  waiting,  and  then  you  could 
hardly  pass  through.  So  I  took  her  one  day  last  week 
in  the  quiet  time  in  the  afternoon. 

It  is  what  you  would  call  a  little  store,  even  in  Ather- 
ton.  Good  Miss  Percy's  candy  shop  is  bigger.  But 
this  is  elegance  itself  from  one  end  to  the  other.  I  saw 
opposite  me  a  handsome,  well-dressed,  fine-looking 
young  fellow  escorting  a  dried-up,  prim,  and  rather 
over-dressed  lady,  and  I  was  just  going  to  say  to  Miss 
Fenton,  "See,  there  is  another  lady,  just  as  I  told 
you,"  when  I  saw  that  the  two  were  reflections  of  me 
and  of  her  in  an  immense  mirror.  Then  I  saw  a  third 
couple,  who  were  also  ourselves,  on  another  side.  Here 
are  high  counters  and,  I  believe,  one  or  two  tables,  and 
behind,  almost  as  many  clerks,  men  or  women,  as  can 
stand  there,  ready  to  give  you  what  you  want,  from 
coffee  round  to  egg  phosphate,  —  which,  I  believe,  you 
have  seen  at  Atherton. 

Mr.  Outlake  says  that  the  orders  are  that  no  one  is 
to  leave  the  place  dissatisfied,  and  I  should  think  so. 
The  young  men  are  nice-looking  fellows,  very  neatly 
dressed  in  white  coats,  always  with  a  boutonniere  of 
flowers ;  and  whatever  they  have  is  of  superexcellent 
niceness.  This  is  the  reason  why  we  all  like  to  go 
there,  if  we  only  have  a  minute,  and  if,  as  I  say,  it  is 
not  in  their  crowded  time.  In  the  middle  of  the  day 
you  can  hardly  wait  to  have  your  turn. 

You  will  be  amazed  to  hear  that  I  still  speak  of 
Miss  Clara  Fenton ;  for  I  know  you  did  not  mean  that 
I  should  attach  myself  to  her  for  life.  But  you  must 
understand  at  once  that  she  is  no  longer  "  your  "  Miss 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  169 

Clara  Fenton.  So  to  speak,  she  belongs  to  our  firm,  or 
company.  For  it  seems  that  her  brother-in-law  took 
some  of  our  stock  for  her  when  our  stock  was  at  sev 
enty-five,  and  now  that  nobody  thinks  of  selling  our 
stock  nor  dreams  of  calling  it  less  than  450,  of  course 
she  holds  it  still.  What  is  more  is  this,  that  she  holds 
so  much  of  it  that  Mr.  Outlake,  not  to  say  all  of  them, 
desires  to  be  awfully  civil  to  her,  as  who  would  not  ? 
She  always  sends  her  "  proxies  "  virtuously  to  Mr.  Out- 
lake,  and  of  course,  she  would  continue  to. 

But  poor  Mr.  Outlake  said  to  me  frankly  that  he 
thought  he  should  die  before  his  last  interview  with 
her  was  over.  He  says  she  talked  to  him  about  Wag 
ner  and  Paracelsus  and  the  unearned  increment  and 
Mahatmas  and  Cheelas  —  if  that  is  the  right  way  to 
spell  them.  I  believe  all  this  is  an  exaggeration. 
Poor  man  !  He  says  :  "  Merton,  I  want  to  keep  well 
with  the  rich  stockholders,  but  I  had  rather  make  a 
million  pins  than  talk  high  art  or  philosophy  for  one 
hour."  All  this  is  his  nonsense,  of  course.  But  he 
was  very  much  pleased  when  he  heard  that  I  had 
taken  her  to  Trinity,  and  he  tells  me  to  render  her  any 
service  the  office  can  render,  so  long  as  we  do  not  have 
to  go  to  a  Buddhist  conference.  So  when  she  sent  me 
a  note  asking  me  to  lunch  with  Colonel  Higginson  and 
Mr.  Howells  and  Dr.  Holmes  and  Whittier  at  the 
Thorndike,  and  afterward  to  drive  again  if  the  day 
was  pleasant,  I  showed  it  to  him,  and  he  gladly  gave 
me  leave  for  the  afternoon. 

Well,  when  I  came  there  it  proved  that  Dr.  Holmes 
was  not  there,  because  it  was  his  birthday ;  Whittier 
declines  all  invitations ;  Mr.  Howells  was  in  the  coun 
try  ;  and  Colonel  Higginson  could  not  come ;  so  I  had 
to  share  the  elegant  lunch  with  Miss  Clara  and  a  Mr. 
Whortleclaff,  who  was  greatly  interested  in  Michael 
Kelly's  change  of  base,  and  a  Miss  Welsh  who  had 


170  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

been  at  Wellesley  with  Miss  Clara.  So  far  as  I  could 
find,  there  had  never  been  the  least  reason  for  think 
ing  that  any  of  these  lights  of  letters  would  come,  ex 
cepting  that  Miss  Clara,  who  did  not  know  one  of  them, 
had  written  to  invite  them. 

Well,  we  had  a  first-rate  lunch,  as  you  would  take 
for  granted  if  you  knew  about  the  Thorndike.  Miss 
Welsh  turned  up  her  nose  very  much  at  Mr.  Whortle- 
claff,  —  is  it  not  a  funny  name  ?  —  and  a  little  at  me. 
You  have  no  idea  how  the  regular  old-time  Boston 
woman  can  turn  up  her  nose  when  she  tries.  But 
they  are  very  easily  frightened,  and  it  is  not  hard 
to  take  them  down.  I  gave  her  as  good  as  she  sent, 
any  way.  After  the  coffee  she  went  off  to  a  meeting 
of  "  The  Society  for  the  Improvement  of  the  Upper 
Classes,"  or  something  of  that  sort.  The  base-ball 
man  went  to  see  the  match  between  Boston  and  Mil 
waukee,  and  Miss  Clara  Fenton  and  I  were  left  to  see 
how  we  would  pass  the  afternoon.  Was  not  that 
great  ?  Well,  I  told  her  it  would  be  a  good  time  to 
see  Thompson's  Spa,  and  that  that  was  an  institution 
really,  though  there  was  no  board  of  managers  and  no 
anniversary  and  no  charter.  And  then  —  dear  Mother, 
you  will  think  I  was  crazy  —  then  I  said  :  "  Would 
you  not  like  to  take  a  Charlestown  car  and  see  Bunker 
Hill  Monument  ?  "  You  see  she  is  "  immense  "  on 
history,  and  had  wept  over  the  loss  of  the  Paddock 
elms,  and  asked  a  policeman  on  the  Common  where 
were  the  traces  of  Percy's  encampment,  and  what 
were  the  lines  of  the  redoubt  on  Fox  Hill !  The  man 
thought  she  was  crazy  ;  and  I  do  not  wonder. 

Well,  this  is  a  very  long  story.  But  the  excellent 
Miss  Clara  said  she  would.  You  see  she  had,  to  my 
wonder,  excused  herself  from  Miss  Welsh's  meeting 
on  the  ground  that  she  had  made  an  appointment 
with  me.  Heaven  forgive  her !  So  it  was  that  we 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  171 

went  to  Thompson's  Spa,  and  I  initiated  her  into  the 
mysteries  of  egg  phosphate.  Then  she  really  wanted 
to  take  an  open  carriage  that  we  might  drive  out  to 
Charlestown.  But  I  said  no,  that  we  were  children  of 
the  public,  and  it  was  a  great  deal  better  to  take  a 
public  carriage.  So  we  went  to  Charlestown  in  a  car. 

Our  dear  old  Mr.  Cradock  says  that  the  upper  part 
of  Charlestown  looks  just  as  Boston  did  sixty  years 
ago,  when  your  mother  lived  here ;  so  I  told  the 
excellent  Miss  Clara  that,  and  she  made  a  note  of  it 
in  her  little  note  book.  I  tell  you  we  got  on  grandly, 
and  she  thinks  I  am  fine. 

My  first  blunder  was  about  the  elevator.  There 
used  to  be  an  elevator  there,  and  a  steam  engine  to 
pump  you  up.  Mr.  Outlake  told  me  there  was,  and  I 
told  Miss  Clara  so.  But  when  we  came  to  the  monu 
ment,  there  was  no  elevator  at  all  and  no  steam 
engine.  I  believe  they  thought  it  was  infra  dig.;  any 
way,  it  is  all  gone.  But  Miss  Clara  did  not  flinch. 
To  tell  the  truth,  she  took  it  very  bravely.  I  found 
out  that  there  are  two  hundred  and  ninety-five  steps 
and  I  told  her  so.  "  Oh !  nothing  to  Milan ! "  she 
said.  "One  gets  used  to  such  things  in  Europe." 
Who  was  I  to  shirk  when  she  led  the  way  ?  There 
was  an  excellent  fellow-citizen  from  Pittsburgh,  who, 
when  he  heard  of  the  two  hundred  and  ninety-five 
steps,  turned  aside  like  a  Leave-ite.  What  he  expected 
of  a  monument  two  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high  I 
do  not  know,  unless  the  steps  in  Pittsburgh  are  two 
feet  high.  Who  knows  ? 

There  is  a  statue  of  Warren  in  the  entrance  room, 
and  on  the  outside  one  of  Prescott  in  the  linen  frock, 
only  it  is  in  bronze,  which  he  fought  in.  Do  you  not 
remember  ? 

Well,  I  told  Miss  Fenton  "  to  rest  on  her  feet,"  as 
the  White  Mountain  guides  say,  and  up  we  went. 


172  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

You  walk  round  and  round  a  circular  shaft  which 
makes  the  middle  of  the  monument.  Miss  Fenton 
had  with  her  quite  a  large  rolled-up  map,  which  they 
had  lent  her  at  the  hotel.  "Hales's  Map,"  it  said, 
"  of  Boston  and  Vicinity."  Of  course  I  carried  it  and 
I  knew  what  it  was  for.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  we  did 
not  have  a  very  grand  view  after  all  cur  climbing. 
But  I  do  not  think  Miss  Fenton  cared  for  that.  I 
think  she  wanted  to  say  in  her  journal  that  she  had 
been  there,  or  in  her  book,  when  she  writes  it. 

The  chestnut  is  that  when  an  Englishman  was  told 
that  Warren  fell  there,  he  said  with  horror :  "  What  ? 
fell  ?  Did  it  not  kill  him  ?  "  As  in  fact  it  did.  But 
the  embrasures  of  the  windows  in  the  top  room  are  so 
deep  that  you  are  not  tempted  to  climb  out,  and,  in 
fact,  they  cut  off  the  view  a  little.  Still,  I  think 
the  loss  of  the  distant  prospect  helped  us  a  little  in 
making  out  the  neighborhood.  You  see  perfectly,  for 
instance,  the  shape  of  the  peninsula  of  Boston,  the 
great  Ames  Building,  as  high  as  the  monument  prac 
tically,  and  the  State  House  so  strangely  near.  You 
see  at  once  how  impossible  it  was  for  the  English  to 
keep  their  ships  there,  if  we  had  a  fort  on  the  hill. 

All  this  Miss  Fenton  made  out  on  her  old  map 
with  interest,  and  I  helped  her  as  well  as  I  could 
with  my  two  months'  knowledge  of  Boston.  The  only 
other  people  there  were  two  wide-awake  Irish  boys, 
determined  to  see  everything  there  was  to  be  seen, 
and  a  young  lady  who  seemed  to  have  brought  them. 
We  were  at  one  window  when  they  were  at  another, 
and,  of  course,  I  only  saw  her  back.  But  as  we 
changed  places,  who  should  it  prove  to  be  but  my 
mysterious  dancing  partner  of  Class  Day,  the  lady  of 
the  White  Fleet  and  the  cupola  of  the  State  House, 
Miss  Sandford,  better  known  to  her  many  charges  as 
"  Jamaica  Ginger." 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  173 

Really,  my  dear  Mother,  we  had  just  seen  each 
other  so  often,  and  I  had  been  so  mystified  by  her 
disappearance  that  I  fairly  laughed.  I  should  have 
been  mortified  by  this  but  that  she  laughed  too.  Miss 
Clara,  I  think,  was  both  mortified  and  surprised  at 
such  bearing,  but  I  could  not  help  that.  I  touched 
my  hat  and  said  :  "  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Miss  Sand- 
ford,  when  I  am  not  nine-tenths  under  water."  She 
said,  "  If  we  are  locked  up  this  time,  we  are  both  on 
the  same  side  of  the  door."  Then  we  laughed  again. 
I  asked  Miss  Clara  if  I  might  present  my  friend. 
She  bowed  a  little  more  stiffly  than  was  worth  while, 
and  then  we  all  three  fell  to  talking,  while  the  two 
little  "  Micks "  ran  round  and  looked  out  at  the 
windows. 

I  had  to  tell  Miss  Fenton  the  story  of  my  sudden 
ducking.  Miss  Sandford  helped  occasionally  with  a 
detail,  and  between  us  we  quite  warmed  Miss  Clara 
up  to  take  some  interest.  Then  Miss  Sandford  said  : 
"  But  I  heard  of  you,  Mr.  Merton,  and  indeed  I  saw 
you,  after  you  had  broken  your  head."  So  I  had  to 
tell  Miss  Clara  that  story  too.  But  I  added  :  "  I  am 
not  the  only  unfortunate  person  in  the  world.  Miss 
Sandford  herself  is  a  sort  of  Goody  Two-Shoes.  So  I 
told  my  half  of  the  State  House  story.  "How  she 
got  out,"  I  said,  "  I  did  not  know,  and  I  do  not  know 
now." 

She  did  not  take  this  up,  however,  as  gayly  as  she 
had  taken  up  the  other  story.  And  then  I  saw  that 
she  looked  pale.  She  only  said  that  a  gentleman 
who  heard  her  let  her  out,  and  she  stopped  rather 
suddenly.  She  did  ask  Miss  Fenton  if  she  did  not 
find  the  walk  up  very  tiresome.  Now  Miss  Fenton  is 
as  strong  as  a  horse,  and  nothing  so  delights  her  as  to 
have  to  show  that  she  is  prepared  for  what  they  call 
"  emergencies."  So  she  opened  a  great  chatelaine  bag 


174  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

she  had  been  lugging  round,  which  I  had  thought  held 
twenty  sawhorses  of  gold,  and  she  produced  three 
different  smelling  bottles,  for  three  sorts  of  "  emer 
gencies."  I  was  terribly  afraid  that  one  of  them 
would  be  Jamaica  Ginger.  But  fortunately  it  was 
not.  To  give  the  bottles  their  due,  I  think  one  of 
them,  at  least,  did  some  good. 

September  2. 

I  was  writing  this  at  the  office,  and  though,  as  I  say, 
there  is  nothing  doing  there,  I  was  interrupted.  So  I 
will  finish  my  long  story  to-night  here  at  Cambridge. 
All  the  same  you  may  not  see  it,  for  those  COMMON 
WEALTH  people  may  cut  me  off  again  in  short  metre. 

For  me,  my  chief  service  was  sending  one  of  the 
boys  downstairs  to  bring  up  a  mug  or  glass  of  water, 
with  charges  that  he  should  not  hurry  so  as  to  spill  it. 
In  a  moment  Miss  Sandford  rallied  and  said  she 
should  feel  better  as  soon  as  she  had  rested.  She 
should  have  sat  down  as  soon  as  she  had  finished 
the  stair  work,  and  I  think  she  had  not  acted  on  the 
guide's  rule,  "  Rest  upon  your  feet."  In  an  incredibly 
short  time  the  little  hoodlum  —  who  was  not  a  hood 
lum  at  all  —  returned  with  a  mug  really  half  full  of 
water.  Miss  Fenton  dipped  her  handkerchief  in  first, 
as  one  who  was  used  to  "  emergencies,"  and  "  bathed 
her  brow,"  as  they  do  in  books.  Quite  as  much  to  the 
purpose  was  the  drinking  of  what  there  was  left,  I 
believe.  Any  way,  Miss  Sandford  fairly  laughed,  said 
she  had  made  fuss  enough,  and  would  go  downstairs. 
I  could  not  offer  my  arm,  for  the  passage  is  not  wide 
enough.  But  I  went  a  step  in  advance,  and  begged 
her  to  balance  herself  on  my  shoulder.  This,  however, 
she  hardly  did.  Going  down  was  a  great  deal  easier 
than  going  up,  and  she  had  a  good  flush  on  her  face 
and  seemed  all  right  when  we  came  to  the  bottom. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  175 

Then  Miss  Clara,  who  really  carne  up  to  the  mark 
like  a  "  trump,"  made  her  sit  down  again  in  the  arm 
chair.  Miss  Clara  fussed  round  a  great  deal  more 
than  I  thought  worth  while,  buying  guides  and  photo 
graphs  and  other  memorials.  But  again  it  proved  I 
was  too  hasty  in  my  judgment.  The  good  soul  had 
sent  off  the  other  boy,  and  had  made  him  bring  a 
carriage  to  the  gate  where  you  go  in  to  what  is  left  of 
the  battle-ground.  In  five  minutes,  which  she  had 
filled  up  with  her  "  pottering,"  the  carriage  came.  As 
soon  as  she  saw  it  she  closed  her  bargaining  and 
insisted  that  Miss  Sandford  should  get  in. 

So  she  did,  after  protesting  that  she  could  go  home 
as  she  came.  I  took  the  third  seat,  as  Miss  Sandford, 
from  the  carriage,  was  giving  her  two  attendants 
money  for  their  car  fare.  But  then  Miss  Clara,  who 
is  a  "trump"  after  all,  said  they  had  better  come 
with  us.  She  bade  the  bigger  boy  ride  with  the  driver, 
and  he  did,  nothing  loath  as  you  may  imagine,  and 
the  little  one,  Terry,  as  it  proved  his  name  was,  sat 
by  me  on  the  front  seat.  Miss  Fenton  asked  Miss 
Sandford  where  she  should  go,  and  to  my  surprise, 
she  named  a  number,  not  very  high,  on  Common 
wealth  Avenue.  I  say  to  my  surprise,  because,  as  I 
have  told  you,  three  houses  out  of  five  on  Common 
wealth  Avenue  are  closed,  and  I  do  not  suppose  that 
the  Commonwealth  Avenue  people  generally  spend 
the  summer  in  keeping  schools.  Since  this  I  have 
heard  of  another  who  does. 

She  did  not  seem  at  all  out  of  order  as  we  rode 
home,  and  she  and  Miss  Clara  talked  very  pleasantly 
and  sometimes  merrily.  She  is  quite  a  stranger  in 
Boston,  as  we  two  were,  and  one  reason  why  I  have 
met  her  at  these  different  show  places,  I  suppose,  is 
that  we  have  both  been  doing  the  lions,  as  strangers 
do.  But  Miss  Fentou  said  at  once  that  she  knew 


176  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

nothing  of  the  sights  as  Miss  Sandford  did ;  and  with 
out  any  of  her  "poky,"  high-cultured  air,  said  she 
hoped  she  would  feel  well  enough  to  be  her  guide  on 
some  other  expeditions,  "  which  do  not  involve  such 
high  climbing."  I  said  that  at  the  Ames  Building 
they  have  an  elevator,  and  told  Miss  Sandford  how  I 
had  deceived  Miss  Fenton  by  promising  her  an  eleva 
tor  at  Bunker  Hill. 

We  rode  by  the  old  West  Church,  I  remember, 
through  Lynde  Street.  Miss  Sandford  said  that  if 
we  would  promise  not  to  lie  awake  nights,  she  would 
tell  us  what  an  old  lady  told  her.  Then  she  said  to 
me  that  this  old  lady  was  our  friend,  Miss  Tryphena 
Dexter.  Miss  Tryphena  Dexter  told  her  that  her 
mother  saw  the  carts  come  through  Lynde  Street 
after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  with  the  wounded 
soldiers,  and  that  you  could  see  great  drops  of  blood 
fall  from  the  wagon  from  freshly  opening  wounds  ! 
Is  not  that  ghastly  ?  And  was  it  not  a  story  to  end  a 
visit  to  the  battle-field  with  ? 

Well,  nothing  much  happened  as  we  rode  home. 
We  drove  up  to  the  right  door  on  Commonwealth 
Avenue ;  the  door  was  open,  and  a  nice,  pleasing 
young  lady  was  sitting  there,  in  the  hall,  beside  her 
easel,  at  work  on  a  water-color  drawing.  She  came 
running  down  when  she  saw  it  was  Miss  Sandford, 
and  took  in  enough  of  the  situation  to  ask  us  all  to 
come  in.  I  do  not  believe  Terry  was  ever  asked  in 
from  a  barouche  to  a  Commonwealth  Avenue  palace 
before.  We  declined,  but  I  took  care  to  say  I  would 
call  to  inquire  after  Miss  Sandford.  Miss  Fenton 
said  the  same  thing,  and  we  went  off  to  her  hotel 
rejoicing.  We  sent  off  the  boys  triumphant,  and  I 
went  up  to  her  parlor. 

Then,  I  can  tell  you,  I  had  to  go  through  a  course  of 
inquiries  as  to  my  acquaintance  with  the  lady,  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  177 

who  she  was,  and  who  her  father  was,  and  all  the  rest. 
As  to  which  I  knew  very  little.  She  said  it  must  be  of 
the  firm  of  Merton  and  Sandford,  but  I  said  I  had 
never  heard  of  any  such  firm.  All  I  knew  was  that 
she  danced  well  and  talked  well  and  had  been  the 
keeper  of  a  Vacation  School.  And  she  said :  "  There 
are  Vermont  Sandfords  at  Astney."  So  there  are.  Do 
you  not  remember  Dr.  Sandford  ? 

I  know,  dear  mother,  what  a  broken  letter  this  is. 
But  is  not  life  all  made  up  of  breaks  and  new  begin 
nings  ?  All  that  I  am  afraid  of  is  that  when  the  clothes- 
piji  season  begins,  there  will  be  no  time  for  writing. 
For  there  is  a  season  for  clothes-pins  as  there  is  for 
peaches  and  oysters  and  marbles  and  operas  and  sym 
phonies.  Does  it  not  say  something  to  that  effect  in 
the  Bible  ?  And  where  have  I  heard  that  there  is 
a  season  even  for  letter-writing  ? 
Truly  yours, 

HARRY. 


178  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  FOURTEENTH. 

XVII. 

LUCY  TO   KATE. 

BOSTON,  September  8,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  cannot  help  writing  to  you 
directly  about  something  that  has  just  happened, 
though  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  I  am  most  pleased  or 
provoked  —  with  myself,  I  mean.  I  am,  indeed,  so 
amused  and  entertained  by  the  adventure  that  I  am 
not  sure  but  that  the  whole  thing  is  very  delightful, 
and  I  do  not  know  that  I  would  have  it  otherwise. 
All  this  must  confuse  you.  And  does  it  not  sound 
very  mysterious  ?  I  have  half  a  mind  to  leave  it  all 
to  your  imagination  and  content  myself  with  an  every 
day  account. 

Are  you  prepared  for  a  guide-book  description  of 
Bunker  Hill  Monument  ?  —  because  that  is  what  this 
letter  was  planned  for  yesterday.  I  had  agreed  to  go 
to  Charlestown  some  day  with  two  of  "my  boys," 
when  one  of  them  appeared  unexpectedly  here,  asking 
if  I  could  not  go  that  very  day.  I  will  not  stop  to 
describe  how  we  went,  and  the  intricacies  of  finding 
the  right  cars,  and  the  absurdities  of  my  boys.  I  do 
believe  they  inspired  me  to  great  activity  in  going  up 
all  the  steps  of  the  monument,  when  we  finally  reached 
it ;  for,  though  I  began  by  taking  the  two  hundred 
and  fifty  steps  leisurely,  they  were  running  far  ahead 
of  me,  and  I  went  on  and  on,  without  stopping  to  take 
breath.  I  did  sit  a  moment  on  the  upper  step,  but  I 
saw  my  boys  leaning  out  of  the  window,  now  and  then 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  179 

looking  back  to  ask  me  a  question ;  so  I  had  to  lift 
myself  up  and  went  to  the  window  to  look  out  with 
them.  I  have  never  had  before  that  dizzy  feeling  that 
people  tell  of  experiencing  at  such  a  height,  but  sud 
denly  I  found  my  head  whirling  round,  and  in  the 
midst  of  it  came  a  voice  that  I  half  recognized,  for 
it  was  that  of  Harry  Merton  ! 

I  fancied  I  was  in  a  dream,  but  I  do  believe  I  re 
covered  myself  enough  to  answer  intelligently  and  to 
question  him  in  my  turn.  Yet  I  fancy  we  had  the 
wildest  kind  of  a  talk  imaginable ;  for  I  saw  suddenly 
a  lady  standing  behind  Mr.  Merton,  who  was  glaring 
on  us  as  if  aghast.  She  wore  spectacles  that  somehow 
made  her  eyes  seem  wider  and  larger,  as  if  she  were 
trying  to  open  them  to  take  in  something  remarkable. 
This  started  me  off  in  one  of  my  laughing  fits,  that, 
you  know,  I  can't  easily  control,  which  seemed  to 
wake  Mr.  Merton  to  the  remembrance  of  his  compan 
ion,  whom  he  introduced  to  me  as  a  Miss  Fenton.  I 
began  to  grow  sober,  but  much  terrified  at  my  impolite 
fit  of  laughter,  when  I  grew  more  and  more  dizzy,  and 
I  am  sure  I  do  not  know  what  would  have  become  of 
me  if  it  had  not  been  for  Miss  Teuton's  kindness  and 
for  a  large  bag  she  had,  which  contained  things  I  had 
never  heard  of  before.  And  I  believe  it  was  smelling 
in  one  of  her  bottles  that  restored  my  consciousness  ; 
for  I  did  lose  it  a  minute  and  did  not  know  what  was 
happening  to  me,  except  that  somehow  or  other  we 
were  getting  downstairs  and  presently  into  a  carriage, 
with  my  two  boys  going  along  with  us. 

I  have  been  wondering  ever  since  what  would  have 
become  of  me,  if  Mr.  Merton  and  his  friend  had  not 
been  there ;  for  I  do  not  know  how  I  could  ever  have 
found  my  way  down  the  stairs  even,  with  only  the 
help  of  my  harum-scarum  boys,  and  I  know  we  should 
have  been  lost  among  the  horse-cars.  For  it  was  a 


180  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

regular  attack  of  faintness  that  came  over  me  for  in 
sanely  running  up  all  those  steps ;  so  do  not  pretend 
to  think  that  it  was  caused  by  excitement  at  meeting 
my  "  distant "  friend,  Harry  Merton. 

I  can't  help  thinking  that  drive  home  one  of  the 
pleasantest  experiences  I  ever  had.  I  began  to  gather 
my  courage  as  soon  as  we  were  in  the  fresh  air  again, 
and  Miss  Fenton  was  so  cordially  kind  that  I  felt  as  if 
I  were  with  old  friends  whom  I  had  always  known, 
and  I  was  almost  sorry  when  the  carriage  stopped  at 
the  door.  Anna  happened  to  be  in  the  hall,  with  the 
door  wide  open,  and  came  down  to  greet  us,  full 
of  wonder  at  seeing  me  thus  escorted  by  strangers; 
and  Miss  Fenton  insisted  upon  coming  up  the  steps 
with  me  and  has  promised  to  call  again.  So  has  Mr. 
Merton. 

I  do  wish  I  could  give  you  some  idea  of  the  talk  in 
the  carriage ;  for  Miss  Fenton  seemed  entirely  differ 
ent  from  anybody  I  ever  met  before,  and  fell  to  talking 
about  most  recondite  subjects ;  and  when  she  perceived 
that  I  had,  apparently,  never  heard  of  them  before, 
she  would  look  at  Harry  Merton  with  an  anxious,  in 
quiring  question.  I  think  I  caught  her  touching  her 
head  in  a  significant  way,  as  if  she  thought  I  were 
still  a  little  out  of  my  mind,  because  I  could  not 
converse  upon  the  high  topics  she  brought  up.  This 
seemed  to  amuse  Mr.  Merton  exceedingly,  which  is 
why  I  called  him  "Harry"  Merton  just  now;  for  we 
seemed  to  become  very  intimate  at  once,  as  he  per 
ceived  1  was  not  out  of  my  mind,  but  frightened  by 
his  remarkable  friend. 

All  this  I  wrote  the  other  day,  and  that  very  even 
ing  Mr.  Merton  appeared,  with  Godfrey  and  Rosamond 
Brand,  and  joined  our  party  on  the  doorsteps.  Anna's 
brother,  Mr.  Davis,  and  his  wife  were  there,  as  they 
come  every  evening,  either  to  go  somewhere  with  us  or 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY  181 

to  sit  with  us ;  and  you  can't  think  with  what  com 
placency  I  look  at  Mrs.  Davis  sitting  on  the  upper 
step  matronizing  us ;  for  I  think  even  Aunt  Martha 
and  Maria  would  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  dig 
nity  and  refinement  of  our  chaperone.  Mrs.  Davis  is 
very  bright  and  amusing  too,  and  enters  into  the  fun 
of  our  talk  with  the  rest  of  us.  Mr.  Davis  is  here  on 
some  business  matters,  so  they  are  staying  on  at  the 
Vendome.  Harry  Merton  told  us  more  about  Miss 
Fenton  and  how  he  came  to  know  her,  —  all  very  in 
teresting.  Then  it  turned  out  that  Mrs.  Davis  knew 
about  her,  and  she  decided  that  she  ought  to  call 
upon  her  with  Mr.  Davis.  I  believe  she  is  now  at 
the  Thorndike,  not  far  away.  She  is  to  come  and  see 
me,  and,  as  Mr.  Merton  declares,  she  was  very  much 
pleased  with  me. 

A  great  many  excursions  were  planned  and  talked 
of.  We  are  all  going  to  Nahant  together,  to  Mount 
Auburn  —  I  can't  tell  where  —  and  there  was  great 
joking  about  my  having  lost  the  grandeur  of  the  view 
from  Bunker  Hill  Monument ;  and  Mr.  Brand  insisted 
that  we  all  ought  to  go  and  see  the  view  from  the  top 
of  the  new  Ames  Building,  because  they  have  an  ele 
vator  there,  and  there  will  be  no  danger  of  my  disgrac 
ing  myself  again  by  fainting.  Mr.  Merton  did  say 
that  we  must  surely  ask  Miss  Fenton  to  go  with  us, 
and  he  should  insist  upon  her  carrying  her  huge  hand 
bag  with  its  different  kinds  of  smelling-bottles,  which, 
indeed,  she  always  has  for  "  emergencies." 

He  declares  that  I  did  really  bear  myself  very  well 
in  the  carriage  on  my  way  home,  only  he  could  not 
help  being  amused  at  my  bewildered  look  when  Miss 
Fenton  began  to  talk  about  "Mahatmas."  It  seems 
she  is  a  great  enthusiast  about  Buddhism  and  also 
about  Browning;  so  I  am  looking  forward  to  much 
pleasant  sympathy  on  that  subject  from  her. 


182  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

As  we  were  planning  our  expeditions,  Harry  Merton 
said  that  there  was  one  trouble,  —  that  Miss  Fenton 
always  insisted  upon  taking  a  carriage.  He  went  on 
to  say  that  he  preferred  considering  himself  one  of  the 
"children  of  the  public,"  as  he  called  them,  and  he 
liked  to  use  the  advantages  provided  for  the  public, 
and  preferred  street  cars  to  carriages.  Whereat  we  all 
exclaimed,  — for  that  has  always  been  our  method  this 
summer ;  and  when  we  went  on  to  tell  about  our  South 
Boston  and  other  expeditions,  which  we  had  been  able 
to  take  at  small  expense,  it  appeared  that  he  had  been 
doing  the  same  things,  and  it  was  only  a  wonder  that 
we  had  not  met  more  often.  I  agreed  to  bring  Miss 
Fenton  round  to  our  opinion,  and  I  even  promised  that 
it  should  not  be  long  before  I  should  take  her  about  in 
my  favorite  excursion  in  the  West  End  car,  going  all 
round  and  through  Boston  and  coming  back  to  the 
starting-point,  all  for  five  cents  !  In  the  midst  of  our 
talk  I  never  discovered  who  Miss  Fenton  is  or  where 
she  comes  from. 

You  must  not  imagine  that  this  intercourse  has  filled 
up  all  our  time.  As  I  take  up  my  letter  again,  I 
can  see  I  am  not  doing  my  duty  as  to  my  daily  history. 
You  must  picture  to  yoxirself  that  Anna  and  I  still 
cling  to  our  afternoon  French  lessons,  that  we  still 
spend  our  hours  in  our  beautiful  park,  not  far  away. 
I  must  not  forget  to  tell  you  that  we  had  a  very  amus 
ing  talk  with  Harry  Merton  about  the  party  that  I 
wrote  you  of,  when  Godfrey  Brand  and  I  saw  him 
through  the  window  as  we  went  down  Commonwealth 
Avenue  one  evening.  Even  that  house  is  now  shut  up. 
It  seems  it  was  only  opened  for  that  especial  occasion, 
and  Mr.  Merton  declares  if  he  had  only  seen  us  he 
would  have  come  down  to  invite  me  in  for  a  dance ; 
for  there  were  not  many  young  ladies,  and  he  is 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  183 

sure  that  his  hostess  would  have  been  delighted  to 
see  me. 

I  must  not  forget  the  lovely  exhibition  of  plants 
last  week  by  the  Horticultural  Society.  I  did  wish 
my  uncle  could  have  come  all  the  way  from  Vermont 
to  see  the  ornamental-leaved  plants  and  palms.  It  all 
looked  very  tropical.  Besides,  there  were  some  ex 
quisite  white  water-lilies  in  tanks,  and  lotus-plants, 
and  two  beautiful  Victoria  Regia,  which  I  have  never 
seen  before,  the  blossom  a  foot  in  diameter,  the  leaf 
nearly  six  feet.  Think  how  it  has  saved  us  a  voyage 
to  the  Amazon ;  we  only  needed  to  walk  to  it  one 
afternoon,  after  our  French  lesson,  to  see  this  wonder 
of  the  world. 

I  am  glad  that  I  have  left  a  space  to  tell  you  of  our 
expedition  to  Nahant,  which  has  just  come  off.  A 
perfect  day  it  turned  out  to  be,  after  some  days  of  rain. 
We  planned  a  large  party,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis  and 
Anna,  the  Brands,  and  some  friends  of  theirs.  Miss 
Fenton  decided  not  to  go.  We  think  she  was  a  little 
afraid  of  being  sea-sick ;  and  perhaps  it  was  as  well 
that  we  were  all  a  young  party,  as  we  did  a  good  deal 
of  walking  and  climbing. 

The  Davises  and  I  were  on  board  the  ISTahant  boat 
in  great  season,  at  Battery  Wharf,  reaching  it  by  the 
East  Boston  cars.  WTe  found  none  of  our  friends 
there,  and  began  to  fear  they  were  not  coming,  as 
it  grew  later  and  later.  Harry  Merton  was  to  come 
with  the  Brands  and  some  other  friends  of  theirs.  We 
stood  near  the  plank,  watching  the  various  passengers 
as  they  came,  and  had  half  a  mind  to  try  to  exchange 
our  tickets  for  another  day,  when  at  the  last  moment 
they  appeared  and  hurried  on  board,  breathless.  They 
had  been  detained  by  a  stoppage  or  a  break-down  of 
the  street  car  and  came  near  missing  the  boat. 

Then  such  a  lovely  voyage !    The  sun  was  veiled  by 


184  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

clouds,  but  there  were  exquisite  colors  on  sea  and 
shore.  We  sat  all  together  at  first,  watching  the  mo 
tions  of  the  boat  in  leaving  the  pier.  Then  all  the 
interesting  places  were  pointed  out  to  us ;  we  saw  old 
Fort  Winthrop,  Fort  Independence,  Thompson's  Is 
land,  and  Deer  Island.  I  could  see  everything  more 
distinctly  than  on  our  shorter  "White  Squadron" 
voyage;  and  as  we  passed  on  we  saw  all  the  settle 
ments  along  the  shore,  Kevere  Beach  in  the  distance, 
till  almost  too  soon  we  reached  the  outer  point  of  the 
peninsula  of  Nahant,  where  we  landed.  Then  came 
up  the  question  whether  we  would  take  one  of  the 
"barges,"  which  would  take  us  round  Nahant.  But 
we  all  preferred  to  walk,  and  it  proved  that  Godfrey 
Brand  was  familiar  with  the  whole  place. 

So.  at  the  very  beginning  he  took  us  down  to  the 
edge  of  the  water  to  see  a  picturesque  "Swallows' 
Cave."  We  had  'great  fun  in  scrambling  over  the 
rocks,  and  I  was  sorry  enough  to  leave  the  beautiful 
place.  We  kept  along  a  little  on  the  shore,  then 
mounted  to  the  path  along  the  cliffs,  and  what  a  per 
fect  view  there  was  before  us !  All  the  wide  ocean 
seemed  spread  far  away  in  the  wide  horizon.  We  had 
to  stop  often  and  admire,  finding  comfortable  nooks  in 
the  rocks  for  talks  with  one  and  another.  And  when 
the  time  came  Mr.  Davis  and  Mr.  Brand  opened  some 
mysterious  baskets  they  had  brought  along,  and  in  a 
rocky  nook  shaded  from  the  sun  we  had  a  most  re 
freshing  luncheon ;  and  here  we  rested  a  long  time, 
chatting  on  every  subject  under  the  sun  and  laughing 
at  everything,  till  somebody  looked  at  somebody's 
watch  and  declared  that  if  we  wanted  to  see  Nahant  it 
was  time  for  our  walk  round  the  peninsula. 

We  were  enchanted  with  everything.  I  never  saw 
such  luxurious  ivies,  covering  the  picturesque  houses, 
that  looked  as  comfortable  as  they  did  artistic,  and 


w 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  185 

brilliant  geraniums  all  in  blossom,  and  such  inviting- 
looking  porches.  There  is  a  picturesque  old  billiard- 
room  on  a  cliff,  and  Godfrey  Brand  had  much  to  tell 
me  about  the  delightful  people  who  for  many  years 
have  come  to  Nahant  for  the  summer.  The  cliff  walk 
is  just  perfect,  and  as  the  afternoon  went  on  the  sun 
came  out,  and  we  came  home  in  a  glorious  sunset. 

On  the  trip  home  the  party  separated ;  Anna  walked 
about  with  Godfrey  Brand,  Rosamond  was  with  some 
friends,  and  I  had  a  talk  with  Harry  Merton.  I  was 
going  to  say  a  "long"  talk,  but  it  seemed  all  too 
short  as  we  neared  the  shore.  We  seemed  to  talk 
about  everything  under  the  sun,  —  very  serious  things, 
I  should  be  inclined  to  say,  except  that  you  cannot 
always  tell  with  Harry  Merton  ;  you  think  he  has 
said  something  just  to  make  you  laugh,  and  it  turns 
out  that  he  has  led  you  into  really  a  serious  strain. 

On  the  rocks  we  had  quite  a  discussion  about  the 
life  of  Laurence  Oliphant,  and  it  proved  everybody 
had  read  it.  I  could  not  quite  tell  if  Mr.  Merton  had 
read  it  or  only  the  notices  of  it.  Everybody  had 
something  different  to  say  about  it.  Anna  Davis  said 
that  she  could  understand  the  temptation  that  Alice 
Oliphant  felt  to  join  such  a  community,  that  she  had 
often  herself  been  made  very  gloomy  to  think  how 
hard  so  many  people  were  working  only  in  daily 
drudgery,  and  that  it  seemed  as  if  we  ought  to  do  our 
share.  Kosamond  Brand  agreed  to  this  and  said  she 
did  not  wonder  that  Alice  Oliphant  felt  that  her 
merely  gay  and  social  life  at  home  was  useless  and 
without  object ;  and  then  perhaps,  after  all,  she  was 
happier  teaching  the  miners'  children  in  California 
than  spending  tiresome  evenings  with  the  rest  of  the 
aristocracy  and  nobility  of  England.  I  could  not  help 
saying  that  might  be,  but  that  by  coming  in  this  way 
to  America,  she  only  added  one  more  to  the  "  drudges  " 


186  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

we  had  here,  and  if  all  the  ladies  of  the  aristocracy 
and  nobility  followed  her  example,  we  should  only 
have  so  many  more  immigrants  to  take  care  of.  Mr. 
Davis  considered  this  a  very  practical  view  of  the 
subject,  and  they  all  laughed.  But  we  all  agreed  that 
the  Oliphants  must  have  had  a  happy  ending  of  their 
life  at  the  colony  of  Haifa,  where  they  did  not  have  to 
forsake  each  other. 

In  our  afternoon  talk  we  went  back  a  little  to  this 
subject,  and  I  could  not  help  saying  that  perhaps  one 
reason  that  the  idea  of  a  "  small-community  "  life  did 
not  attract  me  was  because  I  lived  in  a  small  place  at 
home,  and  that  I  had  been  much  wearied  with  the 
little  things  that  people  talked  about,  and  had  longed 
to  get  out  into  a  larger  space,  where  you  could  seem 
to  be  doing  something  with  a  great  many  people  and 
sharing  in  the  larger  life  of  a  city.  This  set  Harry 
Merton  to  asking  a  little  about  my  life  and  to  telling 
me  about  his  present  life  and  plans,  and  I  found  that 
his  home  was  also  in  Vermont  and  not  far  away  from 
Astney,  and  we  knew  many  of  the  same  people  ;  and 
the  steamer  reached  the  pier  long  before  we  had 
come  near  finishing  our  conversation. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  187 


CHAPTER  FIFTEENTH. 

XVIII. 

HARRY   TO   HIS  MOTHER. 

CAMBRIDGE,  September  8,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  I  have  Fan's  nice  little  note, 
and  yours.  I  attended  to  your  commission  at  once,  as 
I  hope  I  know. 

Really,  I  think  dear  Dr.  Primrose  would  be  satisfied 
better  than  he  is  if  he  saw  what  Sunday  is  here,  and 
what  church  attendance  is.  I  cut  out  of  the  newspaper 
and  sent  to  him  a  scrap  which  the  Congregationalist 
people  got  up  about  the  attendance  in  church  in 
Boston  on  that  sixteenth  of  August,  of  which  I  re 
member  writing  to  you  that  it  was  called  the  most 
dead,  or  perhaps  the  deadest  day  in  the  year.  If  he 
showed  it  to  you  you  will  see  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  people  between  ten  years  of  age  and 
sixty  must  have  gone  to  church  that  morning,  if  you 
allow  for  the  very  large  number  who  are  certainly  out 
of  town.  I  think  I  spoke  of  that  in  that  letter. 

Well  now,  last  Sunday  night,  one  would  have  said, 
was  almost  as  dead  a  night.  It  was  a  rainy  night, 
there  had  been  no  particular  effort  made  to  secure  a 
congregation,  Dr.  Haynes  was  going  to  preach  in  the 
regular  order  at  our  church,  and  yet  there  was 
certainly  a  respectable,  I  should  say  a  good,  congre- 
gration.  I  could  not  help  wishing  all  the  time  that 
you  had  been  with  me.  Do  you  remember  giving  me 
Hughes's  little  book  on  "  The  Manliness  of  Christ," 
when  I  was  quite  a  boy  ?  I  have  never  forgotten  the 


188  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

book,  and  it  lies  on  my  table  now.  That  was  really 
what  Dr.  Haynes  preached  about.  The  text  was ; 
"  Howbeit  in  vain  do  they  worship  me,  teaching  for 
doctrines  the  commandments  of  men."  And  he  illus 
trated  the  Saviour's  real  manliness  by  the  heroic  in 
dignation  with  which  he  spoke  to  the  hypocrites  who 
say,  "  If  a  man  say  to  his  father  or  mother,  It  is  Corban 
by  whatsoever  thou  mightest  be  profited  by  me,  he 
shall  be  free." 

I  a,m  always  wishing,  when  I  hear  Dr.  Haynes,  that 
I  could  write  shorthand.  I  did  take  out  the  envelope 
of  your  letter,  and  wrote  down  two  or  three  scraps. 
"  No  churches,  no  hospitals,  no  foreign  missions,  no 
this  that  and  the  other,  until  that  mother  is  cared  for 
on  the  Vermont  hills  ! "  I  could  not  help  thinking  of 
you  when  he  spoke  of  Vermont  hills.  "  That  is  what 
Christ  says.  Not  the  heretic  Professor  Briggs,  not 
Tom  Paine,  not  this,  that,  and  another,  —  not  one  of 
them  is  so  much  a  heretic  as  are  the  two  church-member 
brothers  who  go  to  law  over  a  lot  of  pots  and  kettles, 
.  .  .  who  scowl  at  each  other  at  the  funeral,  and  only 
come  together  when  the  will  is  read." 

"  Two  men  are  going  \ip  to  the  judgment  gate.  The 
first,  a  poor,  bent  philosopher,  had  spent  his  life  in 
studying  the  doctrine;  the  second,  a  poor  workman, 
only  knew  how  to  follow  Christ.  The  philosopher 
questioned  the  workman,  'Do  you  understand  this 
matter,  that  matter,  and  so  on  ?  '  '  No,'  the  workman 
answered ;  '  no,  I  only  know  how  to  do  as  Jesus  did. 
I  don't  know  how  I  '11  get  in.  That 's  all  I  know.'  The 
gate  opened  for  the  old  workman  as  soon  as  for  the 
philosopher." 

I  was  glad  I  was  there,  and  glad  I  made  George  go 
round  with  me.  I  am  quite  satisfied  that  I  made  no 
mistake  in  choosing  my  Sunday,  home. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  189 

September  15. 

We  are  still  having  some  warm  days,  but  one  can  no 
longer  complain  of  the  languor  and  disinclination  to 
go  about  which  I  have  growled  about  so  often  as  the 
summer  went  by.  And  we  begin  to  find  some  business 
in  the  office.  The  orders  come  in  from  all  parts  of 
the  country,  and  we  are  satisfied  that  hanging  out 
clothes  is  not  going  out  of  fashion,  as  my  Worcester 
County  man  said  about  the  chairs.  The  order  of 
business,  you  know,  is  this  in  the  summer :  The 
Western  men  let  their  wives  and  children  take  them 
to  the  seashore.  This  is  what  fills  up  our  seashore. 
This  is  what  fills  up  our  Rye  Beach,  our  Hampton,  our 
Narragansett,  and  all  other  seashore  places.  But  the 
first  week  in  September  comes  a  northeast  storm,  and 
they  find  the  seashore  hotels  are  very  uncomfortable. 
What  is  much  more  to  the  purpose  is  that  "  the  crop 
begins  to  move,"  and  the  Western  men,  who  have  had 
money  enough  to  spend,  must  go  home  to  move  it.  So 
all  the  railways  running  westward  are  piled  up  with 
baggage,  all  the  seashore  hotels  are  emptied,  and  the 
very  pleasantest  month  for  the  seashore  —  indeed  for 
the  open  air  anywhere  —  is  lost  by  that  sort  of 
pleasure-hunters. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  people  who  have  their 
own  houses  in  the  country,  who  have  gone  from 
Boston  for  instance,  stay  in  those  houses  till  the  first 
of  October.  Mr.  Outlake  told  me  that  the  private 
schools  generally  do  not  open  till  the  first  of  October, 
and  there  is  a  proposal  made  every  year  to  set  the 
opening  of  the  public  schools  later  and  later.  I  met  a 
friend  of  mine  who  is  a  teacher  in  the  Girls'  High 
School,  and  she  told  me  they  had  three  hundred  and 
twenty-four  new  girls  present  on  their  first  day,  and 
that  they  should  not  see  the  whole  of  their  new  class 
until  the  beginning  of  next  month.  That  seems  to 


190  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

show  that  fitting  girls  to  be  teachers  is  not  going  out 
of  fashion  yet,  any  more  than  the  making  of  chairs  or 
clothes-pins  is. 

I  told  Brand  that  I  was  going  to  call  on  Miss  Sand- 
ford  to  make  my  proper  inquiries,  and  he  said  he 
would  go  with  me.  When  I  went  round  for  him  just 
before  it  was  quite  dark,  his  sister  was  easily  enough 
persuaded  to  join  us,  and  we  had  a  very  jolly  call.  It 
was  one  of  those  warm  evenings  when  for  a  little  we  sat 
on  the  top  of  the  broad  steps  and  watched  the  fading 
out  of  the  sunlight  and  the  coming  in  of  the  stars. 
There  seemed  quite  a  party  on  the  ground,  but  the 
only  two  I  talked  with  were  Miss  Sandford  her 
self  and  her  friend  Miss  Davis, — a  nice  bright  girl. 
They  are  holding  the  fort,  that  is  to  say,  living 
in  the  house  while  the  regular  people  are  away 
somewhere ;  I  was  told  where,  I  believe,  but  I  have 
forgotten. 

They  told  about  listening  to  the  music  and  even 
watching  the  dancing  through  the  windows,  when 
poor  Mr.  Champernooii  gave  his  summer  party  which 
frightened  him  so  terribly.  I  told  her  how  short  we 
were  of  partners  there,  and  that  if  we  had  known 
they  were  so  near  as  the  other  side  of  the  street  we 
should  have  gone  over,  like  the  people  in  the  twenti 
eth  century,  and  compelled  them  to  come  in. 

We  could  not  sit  on  the  steps  after  it  grew  cold,  and 
we  went  in.  It  is  a  beautiful  house,  with  some  fine 
pictures  which  I  hope  I  may  see  again.  We  had  some 
music.  Miss  Davis  plays  —  Rosamond  Brand  proved 
to  play  wonderfully  well  —  and  Brand  sang  some  col 
lege  songs.  So  it  was  a  very  pleasant  evening. 

Out  of  all  this,  and  from  dear  Miss  Fenton's  deter 
mination  to  see  all  that  could  be  seen,  there  grew  up 
a  party  to  Nahant.  You  see,  since  it  has  proved  that 
she  is  our  Miss  Fenton,  who  holds  so  much  of  our 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  191 

stock,  I  may  be  off  duty  any  day  to  attend  to  her.  So 
I  was  in  for  a  trip  to  Nahant,  and  Brand  and  his 
sister  were  to  show  us  the  way  —  and  the  Sandford- 
Davis  duo  were  two  more.  (Did  it  ever  occur  to  you 
that  duo  and  two  are  the  same  word  ?) 

After  all,  poor  Miss  Fenton  had  a  sick  headache, 
and  we  almost  lost  the  boat  waiting  for  her  to  make 
up  her  mind  to  stay  at  home.  But  I  did  not  have 
Quixotism  enough,  or  virtue  enough,  to  go  back  to 
the  office ;  and  I  went  all  the  same  as  if  she  had  been 
with  us.  For  which  may  I  be  forgiven !  When  I 
went  before  I  went  to  Lynn  by  rail,  and  so  over 
Nahant  Beach  in  a  bus.  But  it  is  much  nicer  to 
go  by  the  boat. 

You  may  have  seen  all  this.  But  I  know  the 
children  have  not.  First  of  all,  there  is  the  "em 
barkation,"  which  is  always  somewhat  exciting. 
There  stands  at  the  gangway  a  policeman,  to  make 
sure  that  the  boat  does  not  receive  more  than  its 
proper  number  of  passengers.  This  number  is  de 
termined  by  its  size,  and  there  is  always  a  notice 
on  any  of  these  boats  which  shows  how  many  they 
may  take.  Such  things  make  me  creep  a  little,  as 
do  the  sight  of  the  life-preservers  and  the  instruc 
tions  how  you  are  to  put  them  on.  It  seems  a  little 
like  the  old  Egyptian  feasts,  but  I  suppose  that  the 
gentlefolk  who  go  up  and  down  every  day  take  them 
all  as  a  matter  of  course,  as  you  might  pass  by  a 
cemetery. 

We  were  there  almost  at  the  last  minute,  for,  as  I 
say,  we  had  to  go  for  Miss  Fenton,  and  she  had  to 
make  up  her  mind  whether  she  could  go  or  not. 
Now,  making  up  her  mind  takes  a  great  deal  of 
time.  But  when  we  came  there  we  found  our  other 
young  ladies  waiting  for  us,  and  off  we  went. 

The  view  of  the  city,  as  you  recede  from  it,  is  very 


192  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

fine.  It  is  the  imagined  view  of  Boston  rising  from 
the  sea,  with  the  State  House  ruling  the  whole  of  it. 
Then  you  go  by  East  Boston,  which  you  remember  as 
Noddle's  Island ;  I  have  heard  you  tell  about  picnics 
there  in  the  old  days.  There  is  a  little  island  which 
they  call  Apple  Island,  that  I  think  I  should  like  to 
live  on,  though  I  do  not  know  how  I  should  get  there. 
And  then  you  come  to  what  is  known  as  Shirley  Gut. 
Point  Shirley  is  named  for  the  famous  war-governor 
of  a  hundred  odd  years  ago,  and  this  gut  or  channel 
is  a  channel  between  it  and  Deer  Island,  where  the 
city  has  the  poor-houses  and  other  such  establish 
ments.  There  is  a  story  always  told,  and  I  hope  it 
is  true,  that  the  Constitution  once  ran  through  the 
Gut  when  she  was  pursued,  and  that  the  English 
vessels  did  not  dare  to  follow.  I  say  I  hope  it  is 
true;  I  do  not  believe  it  is,  and  I  rather  think  the 
story,  properly  told,  would  go  back  to  Manly's  days, 
when  he  was  picking  off  English  cruisers  in  Wash 
ington's  time. 

After  you  pass  the  Gut  you  have  a  run  of  two  or 
three  miles  in  the  open  sea,  and  it  is  here  that  very 
delicate  people  are  a  little  seasick.  I  was  glad,  on 
the  whole,  that  Miss  Clara  did  not  come.  Nahant 
rises  higher  and  higher  as  you  advance,  and  as  you 
come  up  to  the  wharf  you  see  what  a  mass  of  rocks 
it  is. 

Our  Mr.  Outlake  showed  me  some  old  sketches  of 
Nat  P.  Willis,  —  whom  he  seemed  to  think  everybody 
would  know,  but  whom  I  had  never  heard  of  before, 
—  in  which  he  makes  much  of  the  Nahant  of  his  day. 
He  says  it  is  as  if  the  devil  had  been  knocked  down 
and  was  nearly  covered  with  water,  but  his  arm  and 
hand  were  stretched  out,  so  that  Nahant  Beach  is  his 
arm  and  Nahant  itself  is  his  hand.  I  do  not  know 
that  you  know  how  the  devil's  hand  and  arm  would 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  193 

look  if  he  had  been  upset  by  Michael,  so  that  simile 
may  not  help  you.  More  simply,  here  are  say  four 
hundred  acres  of  rocks,  piled  in  together ;  and  what 
the  joke  calls  "cold  roast  Boston"  has  gone  down  and 
taken  possession.  There  are  I  do  not  know  how  many 
beautiful  houses,  built  wherever  there  is  a  chance  to 
get  in  a  house.  There  are  the  most  elaborate  asphalt 
roads  and  sidewalks  laid  from  one  to  another,  and  the 
wind  —  north,  south,  east,  and  west  —  is  off  the  sea. 
It  cannot  be  hot  there,  you  might  say;  certainly  it 
was  not,  the  day  we  were  there. 

It  was  a  good  deal  nicer  going  with  the  Brands,  who 
had  friends  there,  so  that  we  could  cross  their  grounds 
without  trespassing,  and  they  knew  just  where  you 
had  and  where  you  had  not  rights.  But  everybody 
has  rights  on  the  sea-beach ;  that  is  one  of  the  inalien 
able  privileges  of  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts ;  so  that 
you  can  walk  all  around  Nahant  without  trespassing. 
The  most  extraordinary  thing  we  did  was  to  go  through 
Swallows'  Cave.  This  has  no  bottom  and  has  no  top, 
you  might  say,  though  they  have  made  a  sort  of  path 
where  you  can  walk  through.  The  tide  fills  it  at  high 
tide,  so  it  is  always  wet  and  always  covered  with  sea 
weed.  In  old  times  I  believe  there  used  to  be  swal 
lows  there,  but  we  saw  no  swallows.  Of  course  it  was 
rather  an  adventure,  carrying  the  ladies  through.  I 
should  think  it  was  seventy  feet  long.  The  entrance 
is  so  low  that  you  have  to  stoop,  but  after  you  are 
once  in  the  cave  is  fairly  twenty  feet  high. 

You  know  everybody  jokes  about  the  sea  serpent  at 
Nahant.  But  I  found,  in  the  face  of  the  joking  about 
it,  that  the  sea  serpent,  by  a  regular  old  Boston  man, 
is  regarded  as  being  a  real  creature,  quite  as  much  as  a 
sperm  whale  is.  It  is  more  than  sixty  years  ago  that 
the  original  appearance  of  the  sea  serpent  off  Nahant 
was  made.  Then  he  was  seen  by  some  of  these  grand 


194  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

people  who  lived  there,  and  they  were  old  ship-masters 
who  had  made  their  fortunes  in  the  Northwest  Coast, 
and  never  permitted  anybody  to  laugh  at  their  story. 
And  Mr.  Outlake  says  that  when  Mr.  Wood,  who  was 
no  fool  of  a  naturalist,  was  here,  he  was  willing  to  ac 
cept  the  scientific  basis  of  the  story.  Indeed,  I  think 
Agassiz  himself  gave  way.  He  lived  at  Nahant  a 
good  deal,  and  saw  all  the  people  who  held  the  old 
traditions. 

So  much  for  the  outside  facts  of  Nahant,  as  Fanfan 
would  say.  Now,  as  to  our  particular  expedition.  It 
was  really  a  party  of  pleasure  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end ;  and  do  you  know,  dear  Mother,  my  experi 
ence  of  parties  of  pleasure  is  that  they  generally  turn 
out  to  be  parties  of  pleasure,  notwithstanding  the 
warning  which  the  Sunday-school  books  all  give,  that 
they  will  certainly  turn  out  parties  of  pain.  For  my 
own  part,  I  had  a  right  good  time,  going  down  and 
coming  back  again.  Among  other  things,  I  had  two 
nice,  steady  talks  with  the  mysterious  Miss  Sandford, 
who  on  this  occasion  materialized,  and  was  not  behind 
an  oak  door,  and  was  not  faint,  and  was  just  like  any 
other  sensible  Vermont  girl.  For  it  proves  that  she 
is  a  Vermont  girl ;  she  is  one  of  those  Astney  Sand- 
fords,  whom  you  must  remember.  She  is  a  cousin  of 
that  tearing  beauty,  Ethel  Sandford,  who  bewitched 
the  professor,  and  whom  he  carried  off  to  his  shingle- 
college  at  the  West.  I  think  you  must  remember  the 
story.  Don't  you  remember  Mrs.  Brown  told  you  they 
didn't  know  at  Longfield  whether  he  was  going  to 
honor  with  his  preference  Miss  Ethel  Sandford,  or 
that  nice  Carrie  Swift,  who  was  at  the  Christmas 
party,  until  the  engagement  was  actually  announced  ? 
My  Miss  Sandford — Miss  Lucy  Sandford,  it  seems, 
her  name  is  —  did  not  seem  to  know  much  about  her 
handsome  cousin,  but  she  did  know  that  she  was  now 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY,  195 

Mrs.  Bainbridge.  She  knew  Carrie,  and  spoke  of  her 
in  the  very  pleasantest  terms. 

We  talked  about  all  sorts  of  things.  Of  course, 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  fun  about  her  disappearance 
from  time  to  time.  But  after  the  joking  about  that 
had  been  pretty  much  exhausted,  I  made  her  tell 
about  her  summer  experience,  and  compared  it  with 
mine.  For  we  came  here  within  a  fortnight  of  each 
other,  and  have  been  knocking  around  the  town,  each 
of  us  as  a  stranger,  in  a  good  deal  the  same  way.  She 
was  a  good  deal  interested  in  Miss  Tryphena  Dexter, 
whom  she  had  really  seen  to  more  purpose  than  1  had, 
and  she  told  me  a  good  many  funny  stories  about  the 
old  lady.  Miss  Dexter  is  a  regular  cockney,  as  I  have 
found  out  before,  and  Miss  Sandford  says  she  knows 
a  great  many  of  the  old  Boston  stories.  She  had  ob 
served,  as  I  had,  the  droll  habit  she  has  in  the  street 
of  turning  round  at  the  end  of  every  four  steps  to  see 
who  is  behind  her.  She  noticed  the  supreme  contempt 
with  which  Miss  Dexter  speaks  of  every  person  of 
foreign  lineage ;  and  it  is  wonderful  that  we  two, 
who  came  from  Vermont,  are  not  classed  with  "  them 
Irish"  or  "them  Eyetalians"  or  "them  Canajyans."  I 
told  her  of  my  effort  to  make  Miss  Dexter  go  into  the 
country  and  spend  a  fortnight  at  Atherton.  She 
laughed  very  heartily  at  this,  and  said  she  had  tried 
the  same  experiment,  but  that  she  never  would  be 
happy  under  any  trees  but  her  dear  trees  on  the 
Common.  She  and  Miss  Tryphena  had  been  on 
the  Common  one  Sunday  afternoon,  somewhat  after 
the  fashion  of  which  I  wrote  you  when  I  was  first 
here. 

Then  we  drifted  into  talk  about  books.  She  was 
reading  this  funny  "Tourmalin,"  just  as  I  am.  But 
she  was  very  enthusiastic  about  Laurence  Oliphant, 
and  I  think  you  must  try  to  get  that  book  for  the 


196  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

club.  I  hope  I  did  not  disgrace  myself.  For  I  did 
know  who  Laurence  Oliphant  was,  I  had  read  THE 
COMMONWEALTH'S  notice  of  him,  on  the  back  of 
one  of  my  letters  to  you.  But  she  went  a  good  deal 
into  detail  about  it,  about  the  community  life  that 
they  all  had  together,  and  so  on;  and  it  was  this 
that  led  up  to  all  the  talk  that  we  had  about  Vermont 
and  Ethel  Sandford  and  Carrie  Swift. 

All  of  us  walked  home  together,  and  this  gave  a 
chance  for  us  to  show  the  ladies  some  of  the  queer 
places  down  near  the  wharves,  where  they  are  not  in 
the  habit  of  going.  There  is  one  eating  house  that  I 
am  very  fond  of,  which  is  up  high  enough  for  you  to 
sit  at  an  open  window  looking  all  over  the  bay,  while 
eating  your  clam  chowder  or  oysters, — for  oysters 
have  come  again. 

Nahum  would  have  liked  all  of  these  lion-hunting 
expeditions,  because  he  would  have  seen  medals  and 
pictures  and  old  swords  and  pitchers  to  his  heart's 
content.  He  would  have  seen  the  famous  Ben  Frank 
lin  suit,  of  which  the  story  is  told.  It  came  about  by 
Mr.  Outlake's  thinking  he  must  do  something  himself 
for  "  poor  dear  Miss  Fenton."  He  got  himself  up  one 
evening,  and  made  Mrs.  Outlake  go  to  the  Thorndike 
and  call.  She  was  very  funny  about  it  when  I  saw 
her  the  next  day.  There  is  this  standing  joke  about 
"Mahatmas"  and  "chottas"  or  "chattas,"  —  and  they 
pretended  great  fear  that  Miss  Clara  would  put  them 
through  their  Buddhist  catechism.  But  she  was  very 
merciful,  and  only  talked  about  the  Concord  School, 
and  Sir  Launfal,  and  Mr.  Smith's  sermon,  and  the 
mystical  articles  in  THE  COMMONWEALTH.  Mrs.  Out- 
lake  asked  her  to  dinner,  and  so  on ;  and  Mr.  Out- 
lake,  in  a  fit  of  enthusiasm,  asked  Miss  Fenton  if  she 
had  seen  the  Historical  Library,  and  she  said  "Xo,"  — 
to  his  great  delight.  For  it  is  one  of  his  fads,  and  is 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  197 

really,  in  the  line  of  shows,  about  the  nicest  thing 
in  Boston. 

You  see,  to  belong  to  the  Historical  Society  is  about 
the  only  order  of  nobility  there  is  left  here.  I  mean 
it  is  the  only  thing  left  where  a  good  many  people 
wish  they  were  in  who  are  not  in.  You  have  to  be 
a  hundred  and  fifty  years  old  to  belong,  in  the  first 
place ;  and  you  have  to  know  everything,  in  the 
second  place.  And,  granting  that,  there  can  only  be, 
say,  a  hundred  and  twenty.  So  it  is  quite  a  "  select 
thing,"  as  an  old  lady  said  to  me  of  a  parish  sociable. 
They  are  good  as  gold  about  letting  people  in  to  see 
the  library  and  collection,  and  really  anybody  may  go. 
But  practically  you  feel  easier,  when  a  top-sawyer, 
who  came  over  with  Endicott  and  whose  grandfather 
was  a  founder  of  the  society,  asks  you. 

Well,  I  think  Mr.  Outlake  wanted  to  reward  me  for 
my  attentions  to  Miss  Fenton,  so  he  asked  me  to  join 
the  party  with  my  friends,  and  I  took  Miss  Sandford 
and  Miss  Davis.  We  all  met  at  Parker's  and  lunched 
in  one  of  the  private  parlors.  Then  it  is  only  a  short 
walk  to  the  Society's  Library.  First  you  have  to  climb 
three  flights  of  stairs.  So  Dr.  Holmes  called  it  the 
"High-Story-Call  Society,"  the  day  after  they  moved 
into  these  new  rooms.  Was  not  that  just  like  him  ? 
The  rooms  are  not  many  and  not  very  large,  but  there 
is  everything  curious  in  them. 

Between  the  proper  work-room  of  the  Library  and 
the  elegant  Dowse  collection,  on  the  door,  is  the  frame 
work  with  two  swords,  of  which  Dr.  Primrose  told  us. 
One  is  the  sword  of  Prescott  who  built  the  redoubt  on 
Bunker  Hill,  and  the  other  is  that  of  Linzee,  the  Eng 
lish  Commander  who  fired  the  first  shot  at  the  redoubt 
in  the  gray  of  the  morning.  Prescott's  grandson  mar 
ried  Linzee's  grand-daughter ;  so  their  children  united 
both  lines.  The  grandson  was  the  historian.  He  used 


198  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

to  have  the  swords  crossed  in  his  library,  and  when  he 
died  he  gave  them  to  these  people. 

The  Dowse  Library  seemed  to  me  the  most  attrac 
tive  room  I  ever  saw;  lined  with  books,  on  three 
sides,  and  those  books  selected  for  something,  in 
every  case,  —  not  bought  by  a  drag  net,  I  mean,  —  by 
a  man  who  was  thoroughly  interested  in  English 
literature  and  meant  to  get  the  best.  He  had  money 
and  good  taste  and  information,  and  he  had  the  best 
editions  of  all  English  standards,  not  to  say  of  English 
historians,  and  he  had  them  bound  in  the  most 
elegant  manner.  Mrs.  Outlake  told  us  his  history. 
She  remembered  seeing  him  when  he  was  an  old  man. 
He  was  the  typical  apprentice  in  Boston.  He  had 
been  born  in  Charlestown,  and  could  just  recollect 
the  burning  of  his  father's  home  the  day  of  the  battle. 
He  tried  one  and  another  thing,  but  finally  became  a 
leather  dresser,  making  the  more  elegant  kinds,  such 
as  book-binders  use.  Something  started  him  on 
collecting  books,  and  when  he  died  he  had  this 
collection,  by  far  the  most  valuable  collection  of 
English  books  in  New  England  at  that  time. 

It  would  be  such  fun  to  nestle  down  here  to  read ; 
and,  so  far  as  I  saw,  any  decent  loafer  in  Boston 
might  do  so.  There  is  an  awful  warning  story  which 
Mr.  Outlake  told  us.  When  he  was  fifty  years  old 
his  English  agent  sent  him  an  advertisement  that  an 
English  collection  of  pictures  would  be  sold  by  raffle. 
He  persuaded  a  neighbor  to  join  him  in  buying  three 
tickets,  and  he  won  two  of  the  three  best  prizes.  The 
neighbor  had  backed  out,  so  he  had  all  the  tickets. 
Part  of  the  prize  was  a  collection  made,  most  of  them, 
in  the  old  fashioned  English  water-colors.  I  have 
seen  it  at  the  Art  Museum,  where  it  is  now.  They 
seemed  to  think  that  this  fixed  his  taste  ;  and  till  he 
died,  he  was  perfecting  this  library. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  199 

But  is  it  not  interesting  ?  For  now  I  suppose  lie 
and  the  other  man  who  bought  the  ticket  could  be 
sent  to  jail  for  corresponding  with  a  lottery  agent! 

The  story  is  that  it  was  proposed  that  Harvard 
College  should  give  him  some  honorary  degree,  as 
heaven  knows  they  have  given  them  to  many  men 
who  had  much  less  hold  on  literature  or  science.  Then 
some  joker  said  it  should  be  LL.  D.,  Learned  Leather 
Dresser.  And  it  is  said  that  this  joke  made  him 
angry  so  that  he  left  his  library  to  the  Historical  and 
not  the  College.  I  do  not  know  if  this  is  true.  I 
shoiild  say  it  was  quite  as  useful  here  as  there. 
Perhaps  "  Mr.  Ward  knew  his  own  business." 

You  have  no  idea  of  the  variety  of  commissions 
which  come  to  us  in  the  office.  It  seems  the  bankers 
have  the  same  experience.  If  the  president  of  a  bank 
in  Cranberry  Centre  has  a  good  strong  account  here,  he 
will  think  he  may  trouble  them  to  match  a  ribbon  for 
his  wife,  or  to  send  an  autograph  of  Phillips  Brooks 
for  his  daughter.  So  our  correspondents,  and  that  not 
our  largest  correspondents,  will  put  in  a  postscript 
into  an  order  for  clothes-pins,  asking  us  to  attend  to 
this  or  that  errand  for  them.  And  this  time  a  man 
we  have  at  Roaring  River,  who  sends  us  cedar,  wanted 
to  know  if  we  could  not  make  special  rates  for 
Baker's  chocolate  for  him.  He  had  a  fad,  that  it 
would  be  better  for  the  men  in  camp  than  the  strong 
coffee  they  drink.  And  he  stuck  to  the  national 
motto,  as  Mr.  Outlake  calls  it,  and  was  bound  to  "get 
the  best." 

So  the  chief  gave  me  the  letters,  and  told  me  to  "  go 
out  and  see  the  people  at  Baker's.  There  are  no 
Bakers  now  ;  I  believe  they  are  Pierces  now  ;  but  the 
reputation  is  so  great  that  it  must  not  be  lost.  I 
crammed  up  first,  in  a  cyclopaedia,  that  I  need  not 


200  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

be  quite  a  fool.  Do  you  know  that  while  now 
"  chocolate  "  and  "  cocoa "  have  meanings  wholly 
different  in  the  trade,  this  is  merely  arbitrary  ?  It 
seems  the  latl  was  the  Mexican  word  for  water,  so 
that  choco-latl  only  means  cocoa,  or  choco,  and  water. 
But  now  cocoa  and  chocolate  are  quite  different. 

Well,  there  is  a  street  railway  out  to  Milton  Falls 
where  the  mills  are,  and  this  afternoon  I  have  been 
out  there.  I  gave  my  letters  to  the  people,  who  are 
very  civil,  and  they  gave  me  their  bottom  prices  for 
our  Aroostook  County  man.  But  I  thought  I  would 
follow  my  hand  ;  and  I  asked  them,  a  little  bashfully, 
if  I  could  not  see  the  work  of  the  mills. 

With  perfect  courtesy  the  gentleman  I  dealt  with 
called  a  clerk  and  told  him  to  take  me  over  the 
factory.  He  had  a  great  book,  which  he  put  down  on 
the  table  and  asked  me  to  register ;  and  so  I  did.  He 
showed  me  first  several  glass  jars  in  the  office.  One 
large  jar  contained  in  alcohol  one  of  the  large  brown 
pods  which  hold  the  cocoa  beans.  The  pod  is  about 
the  size  of  a  moderately  large  musk-melon.  It  looks 
much  like  the  outside  leathery  substance  around  a 
butternut.  Then  we  began  in  the  basement.  There 
he  showed  me  the  large  engine,  three  hundred  horse 
power.  We  got  on  a  freight  elevator  and  went  up  to 
the  fifth  story,  which  is  the  top  story.  Here  was  the 
storeroom  where  the  bags  of  cocoa  beans  are  received. 
The  beans  look  much  like  good-sized  brown  kidney 
beans.  These  beans  are  put  in  large  perforated 
cylinders.  As  they  whirl  around  in  these  cylinders, 
dirt,  small  pieces  of  refuse,  and  small  stones  drop  out 
through  the  holes.  After  that  the  beans  are  picked 
over  by  men.  They  were  picking  them  over  just  as  I 
remember,  when  six  or  seven  years  old,  picking  over 
beans  for  Sunday  breakfast  baked  beans.  A  good  many 
beans  stick  together  in  pairs.  These  have  to  be 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  201 

separated.  After  this  the  beans  go  into  what  we 
should  call  large  "  bakers."  Each  of  these  roasters 
holds  a  long  ton,  2,240  Ibs.  The  roasters  look  like 
large  tin  portable  ovens.  The  next  process  is  the 
mixing,  and  cracking  off  the  shell,  and  winnowing. 
Winnowing  I  call  the  process  which  blows  off  the 
lighter  shell  from  the  nut  and  leaves  them  separate. 
This,  before  this  machine  was  used,  had  to  be  done 
three  times  in  order  to  do  it  well.  This  new  machine 
does  it  better,  and  the  beans  only  need  to  go  through 
once. 

After  this  cracking  and  fanning,  the  beans  go 
pretty  directly  down  into  the  great  grinder,  made  of 
steel  rollers,  which  does  the  work  that  used  to 
require  fifteen  ordinary  machines.  There  are  only 
three  of  these  large  "  grinders  "  in  use  in  the  world. 
The  rollers  are  warm  and  the  chocolate  pours  out  like 
paste  and  rolls  down  into  pans. 

The  next  room  is  very  noisy.  You  can't  hear  a 
man's  voice.  Here  is  what  I  call  the  kicking  process. 
The  chocolate  is  put  into  the  little  tin  moulds  in 
which  it  is  sold.  About  a  hundred  of  these  moulds 
are  put  on  an  iron  about  three  by  four  feet.  From 
below  a  machine  keeps  bouncing  the  iron  plate  up  and 
down.  As  the  chocolate  is  ladled  out  into  these 
moulds,  the  jouncing  makes  it  fit  down  beautifully 
smoothly.  It  is  the  kicking  process  that  makes  the 
great  noise.  Then  these  little  tin  moulds  of  chocolate 
are  taken  into  the  cold  room  in  the  basement.  Here 
it  gets  solid  and  hard,  and  is  then  shipped.  This 
cold  room  is  very  cold,  although  to-day  is  one  of  the 
hottest  days  of  September.  The  cellar  is  kept  cold 
by  brine  running  through  pipes  around  the  cellar,  just 
as  rooms  are  made  warm  by  steam  going  through 
pipes  around  them. 

The  man  who  showed  me  about  said  he  was  sorry 


202  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

he  couldn't  show  me  the  factory  when  they  were 
running  in  full.  During  this  next  month  and  half  of 
the  next  they  make  repairs.  This  is  the  annual 
vacation  during  which  they  do  little. 

P.  S.     You  will  be  as  glad  as  we  all  are  that  Dr. 
Haynes  is  not  going  to  Chicago. 
Always  yours, 

H. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  203 


CHAPTER   SIXTEENTH. 

XIX. 
LUCY  TO   KATE. 

BOSTON,  September  24,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  have  never  told  you  about  the 
expedition  that  Anna  and  I  made  to  Mount  Auburn 
a  week  or  two  ago.  We  went  as  "children  of  the 
public,"  starting  first  from  Park  Square.  We  had 
to  wait  about  half  an  hour  for  the  electric  car  that 
was  to  take  us  to  Cambridge,  but  it  was  not  one  of 
the  hottest  days  we  have  had  lately,  so  we  did  not 
mind.  And  we  were  fully  rewarded  for  our  delay  by 
the  beautiful  ride  in  the  open  car  over  the  lovely 
Charles  River,  which  seemed  most  enchanting  that 
afternoon,  with  the  blue  sky  and  the  bluer  water, 
and  the  red  brick  houses  of  Beacon  Street  across  the 
water.  I  imparted  to  Anna  my  plan  of  turning  these 
houses  round,  so  that  they,  might  face  the  lovely  sun 
set  view  and  that  they  might  add  to  the  picturesque- 
ness  of  this  excursion  over  the  bridge.  She  was  rather 
uncertain  whether  the  owners  of  the  houses  would 
sympathize  with  my  aesthetic  ideas  of  improving  the 
view  from  the  bridge,  but  we  formed  our  plans  all  the 
same,  and  decided  that  when  we  owned  a  house  on 
the  "  waterside  "  of  Beacon  Street  we  would  build  it 
to  face  towards  the  sunset,  with  a  picturesque  boat- 
house,  and  a  lovely  row-boat,  in  which  we  should 
row  ourselves  when  we  went  to  make  calls.  Or 
if  we  drove  out  of  town  we  would  look  back  over 


204  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND   LUCY. 

our  bridge,  to   the  picturesque   part  of  our  house 
which  should  be  a  joy  to  all  beholders. 

We  were  so  occupied  with  our  plans  and  imaginings 
that  we  were  quite  surprised  when  the  conductor 
shouted  out,  "  Change  cars  for  Mount  Auburn."  We 
had  to  stop  in  a  little  hot  station  which  seemed  filled 
with  flies  and  pickled  limes  and  crying  babies.  After 
a  painful  waiting  of  ten  minutes  our  car  came  along, 
and  the  delightful  ride  that  followed  was  a  balm  to 
our  souls.  We  went  on  throiigh  the  loveliest  part  of 
Cambridge,  by  the  beautiful  college  grounds  with  its 
fine  buildings,  and  reached  the  magnificent  Washing 
ton  elm,  and  could  see  Elmwood,  where  Lowell  lived 
and  died,  and  passed  Longfellow's  beautiful  house, 
and  came  at  last  to  Mount  Auburn. 

Happily  we  had  a  long  afternoon  before  us,  for  in 
deed  as  it  was  we  could  not  do  all  we  wanted  to  in 
wandering  over  the  beautiful  grounds.  We  did  visit 
the  burial-places  of  Longfellow,  of  Agassiz,  and  could 
see  many  of  the  famous  monuments  of  which  we  had 
read ;  but  we  had  to  hurry  away  to  an  electric  car,  at 
sunset,  to  make  our  way  home,  declaring,  however, 
that  we  would  come  again  as  soon  as  we  could  have 
a  whole  day  for  exploring  the  beautiful  grounds. 
,  That  was  many  weeks  ago,  and  we  have  never  been 
since  till  last  week,  when  I  had  an  invitation  from 
Miss  Fenton  to  drive  there  with  her  one  morning.  It 
was  one  of  the  lovely  September  days  we  have  been 
having  that  she  called  for  me  in  a  most  inviting  look 
ing  victoria.  Anna  and  I  have  been  much  amused  at 
the  contrast  of  the  two  expeditions.  No  waiting  at 
Park  Square,  no  struggle  with  flies  at  the  little  sta 
tion!  Anna  could  not  go,  and  Miss  Fenton  and  I 
leaned  back  upon  the  luxurious  seats,  going  whither 
we  would,  without  delays,  or  noise  of  crowds. 

I   suggested   our   going   across    the   new   Harvard 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  205 

Bridge,  as  we  drove  out  through  the  Commonwealth 
Avenue  park,  —  "  my  "  park,  as  I  am  inclined  to  call 
it,  —  and  Miss  Fenton  was  willing  to  admire  all  its 
rural  charms,  the  picturesqueness  of  its  arched  bridge, 
and  the  figures  of  gay  autumn  flowers  along  its  roads. 
Then  we  crossed  the  bridge  and  admired  the  views  up 
and  down  the  river.  I  did  not  venture  to  impart  to 
Miss  Fenton  my  plans  for  the  Beacon  Street  houses, 
for  I  found  her  very  enthusiastic  about  Boston  just 
as  it  is.  Indeed,  I  think  she  admired  the  institutions 
and  public  buildings  more  than  the  rural  charms  of 
its  public  parks,  as  I  displayed  them  to  her.  And  is 
it  not  remarkable  ?  I  find  that  she,  too,  comes  from 
Vermont,  and  she  knew  all  about  Astney  and  my 
father  and  mother,  though  she  has  not  seen  them  or 
Astney  for  years.  I  think  one  reason  she  did  not 
admire  more  enthusiastically  the  "Joe  Pye"  weed 
and  golden-rod  along  the  drives  in  the  park  was  be 
cause  "she  had  always  seen  them  in  Vermont,"  and 
there  was  "  nothing  so  very  new  about  them." 

So  we  saw  lovely  Mount  Auburn  again,  and  I  could 
take  her  to  some  of  the  famous  places,  and  we  went 
to  the  burial-place  of  Charlotte  Cushman.  Did  you 
know  that  she  loved  Boston  so  much  that  she  selected 
this  spot  in  Mount  Auburn  that  could  overlook  the 
town  where  she  was  born  ?  For  she  was  born  in  a 
narrow  street  of  the  "North  End"  and  the  "Cushman 
School "  stands  in  memory  of  her  in  that  very  street ; 
for  she  left  to  the  city  a  bequest  for  the  use  of  the 
school  children. 

Miss  Fenton  was  much  interested  in  all  this,  for  she 
had  seen  Miss  Cushman  on  the  stage,  and  gave  really 
a  brilliant  account  of  her  appearance  as  she  saw  her  in 
the  part  of  "  Lady  Macbeth ; "  and  she  knew  friends 
of  Charlotte  Cushman,  when  she  lived  in  Home,  and 
had  much  that  was  interesting  to  tell. 


206  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

I  was  not  sure  but  I  enjoyed  Miss  Fenton  more  in 
such  reminiscences  than  when  she  began  to  talk  about 
books,  for  then  I  cannot  quite  keep  along  with  her; 
and  as  we  came  home  I  was  really  sorry  to  lose  some 
of  the  beautiful  sunset  views,  in  trying  to  understand 
all  she  was  telling  of  one  of  her  late  readings. 

But  this  is  not  telling  you  what  a  delightful  time 
Anna  and  I  had  at  the  Art  Museum  last  Saturday. 
For  the  Museum  is  open  to  the  public  Saturdays  and 
Sundays,  and  we  went  as  "  children  of  the  public,"  as 
Harry  Merton  would  say.  Anna  is  to  enter  one  of  the 
classes  this  autumn,  and  she  is  very  familiar  with  all 
the  delights  of  the  whole  building.  She  wanted  to 
see  some  especial  pictures  that  are  exhibited  here  just 
for  this  summer,  so  we  were  merely  to  make  a  tour 
through  the  different  rooms  to  give  me  an  idea  of  their 
geography,  passing  only  through  those  on  our  way  to 
the  picture  galleries.  So  she  ruthlessly  bore  ine  on 
through  the  different  apartments. 

We  turned  to  the  right  on  entering,  passed  along 
the  lower  floor,  then  turned  a  corner,  going  on  to  the 
back  of  the  building,  where  we  went  up  some  stairs. 
I  did  insist  upon  stopping  a  moment  to  exclaim  and 
admire  here  arid  there,  —  in  the  Parthenon  Room,  for 
instance,  where  I  plan  to  go  for  a  long  study  some 
day,  and  then  in  the  corridor  I  had  to  make  her  stop 
for  me  to  delight  in  the  Japanese  pottery  and  screens, 
and  I  did  go  back  to  look  into  the  Japanese  room  and 
I  could  not  bear  to  leave  it ;  but  she  absolutely  tore 
me  away  and  bore  me  off  with  her  to  the  entrance 
of  the  fifth  picture  gallery  at  the  other  end  of  the 
corridor. 

She  condescended  to  let  me  put  my  head  into  the 
water-color  gallery,  that  I  might  know  where  to  find 
it  another  time ;  but  she  would  not  let  me  look  at  a 
single  picture,  and  she  herself  would  not  stop  at  a  sin- 


THE   NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  207 

gle  thing  till  we  were  fairly  planted  in  front  of  some 
of  the  pictures  she  had  been  longing  to  see.  First,  she 
wished  to  see  the  Corots,  and  I  was  delighted  to  find 
that  I  could  thoroughly  delight  in  them.  I  am  always 
afraid,  after  I  have  heard  so  much  of  a  great  painter 
like  Corot,  that  I  shall  find  I  do  not  know  enough  to 
enjoy  his  pictures.  But,  oh,  I  was  so  glad  to  find  that 
I  need  not  "  know ;  "  for  they  are  so  lovely,  so  exqui 
site.  —  to  have  in  one's  own  room  of  a  winter  day, 
for  instance,  like  a  window  let  out  upon  a  sum 
mer  scene.  I  envied  much  the  happy  owners  and 
was  glad  indeed  that  Anna  had  hurried  me  about, 
so  that  we  could  have  leisure  for  all  the  treasures 
in  this  room. 

The  name  of  Daubigny  was  another  that  I  was 
rejoiced  to  grow  familiar  with;  such  a  beautiful  pic 
ture  by  Jacques  of  sheep  resting  under  a  tree.  And 
then  how  we  were  arrested  when  we  came  in  front  of 
the  splendid  picture  of  the  horses  of  Achilles  by  Henri 
Regnault.  That  was  the  way  with  us ;  we  had  to  stop 
suddenly ;  for  the  whole  group  is  so  spirited  and  won 
derful,  with  Autornedon  standing  between  the  heads  of 
the  horses,  all  so  full  of  life  and  animation.  You  feel 
as  if  he  were  holding  back  the  horses  away  from  you. 
As  we  admired  the  energy  of  the  figure  of  Automedon, 
Anna  told  me  of  a  story  of  the  picture  that  she  had 
read;  how  Regnault  had  been  honored  with  an  appoint 
ment  to  the  "  Prix  de  Rome,"  which  made  him  a  stu 
dent  there  for  many  years.  And  in  return  he  was 
bound  to  send  at  a  certain  time  (or  times)  the  painting 
of  a  nude  figure,  and  he  sent  this  "  Automedon."  Thus 
it  was  not  a  mere  figure  in  pose  for  an  artist,  but  one 
part  of  a  significant  group  that  perhaps  struck  me 
more  than  anything  else  in  the  room.  Of  course,  when 
we  went  home,  we  hunted  up  our  Homer,  and  decided 
that  Regnault  had  really  carried  us  to  the  plains  of 


208  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Troy ;  and  we  questioned  if  he  had  not  seen  the  won 
derful  horses  of  Achilles  in  just  such  a  vision. 

I  am  sure  that  one  ought  to  see  no  more  than  one 
picture  at  a  time  to  enjoy  it  thoroughly,  but  thanks  to 
Anna's  persistency  in  dragging  me  to  this  room,  in 
spite  of  other  enchantments  we  did  have  time  to  ad 
mire  many  others.  Such  a  lovely  mother  and  child  by 
John  S.  Sargent !  I  was  delighted  to  have  a  chance  to 
see  this  picture,  giving  such  a  charming  idea  of  the 
work  of  a  favorite  artist,  and  an  American  too.  Then 
there  are  some  lovely  Millets,  whom  we  all  know  by 
the  "  Angelus  "  and  these  have  the  same  charms,  espe 
cially  "  La  Bergere  Assise  "  so  full  of  expression  too ; 
and  here  were  many  of  William  Hunt's  pictures,  some 
of  which  I  had  never  seen,  though  I  am  familiar  with 
so  many.  Of  course  I  could  feel  a  fresh  pride  that  he 
was  born  in  my  native  state  of  Vermont.  Then  there 
was  a  lovely  picture  by  Lerolle  in  the  southern  corri 
dor,  a  real  out-door  picture,  and  so  breezy,  some  women 
walking  by  a  river.  Then,  in  another  room  were  Ved- 
der's  pictures,  —  the  wonderful  one  of  the  Arab  listen 
ing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Sphinx.  And  here  was  a  very 
striking  and  beautiful  picture  by  Sprague  Pearce,  "  The 
Widow,"  her  cloak  covering  her  head  and  falling 
over  the  child  who  rests  in  her  arms.  I  was  charmed 
by  a  beautiful  snow  storm  by  Claude  Monet,  and  a 
lovely  "Shore  and  Sea"  with  graceful  ships  on  the 
water.  And  here  was  Millet's  "Trumpeter,"  —  the 
American  Millet's.  The  picture  represents  an  old- 
fashioned  Dutch  scene,  the  interior  view  of  a  house 
where  two  men  and  five  women  are  seated.  The  Trum 
peter  is  surrounded  by  the  women,  while  the  other 
men  smoke  in  the  fireplace ;  the  light  from  the  fire, 
reflected  on  his  face,  is  wonderfully  done.  It  is  a 
fine  picture. 

I  was   interested  in  two  of   Dennis   Bunker's  pic- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  209 

tures,  —  the  artist  who  has  lately  died  so  young  in  the 
beginning  of  his  career ;  and  I  liked  a  spirited  picture 
by  Gaugengigl,  of  Mr.  Outram  Bangs  as  a  matador, 
also  a  delightful  picture  by  Abbott  Thayer.  And  we 
did  have  a  little  time  for  the  Dutch  room  and  some 
real  Van  Dycks  ;  one  of  them,  "  The  Senator,"  a  very 
self-composed  senator,  I  admired  for  his  dignity.  I 
must  not  stop  now  to  tell  you  more  of  them,  for  I 
shall  go  again  soon.  Only  I  must  speak  of  a  lovely 
pastel  Anna  and  I  saw  one  day  on  exhibition  at 
Williams  and  Everett's.  It  is  a  pastel  —  some  holly 
hocks  against  a  stone  wall,  and  in  front  a  little 
colored  girl  carrying  a  black  kitten.  It  has  such  a 
sunny,  bright  look  that  it  charmed  me,  especially, 
perhaps,  because  its  hollyhocks  reminded  me  of  those 
against  the  stone  wall  at  home.  It  is  by  Miss  Ellen 
D.  Hale. 

I  inspired  Miss  Eenton  with  a  desire  to  visit  the 
Art  Museum,  and  we  are  to  go  there  together  soon. 
I  told  her  how  Anna  and  I  looked  up  the  story  of 
Automedon.  You  may  like  to  find  it  yourself  in 
Bryant's  translation  of  the  Iliad,  the  17th  Book. 
She  was  much  amused  when  she  found  that  we  had 
also  studied  it  up  in  the  Greek,  — as  much  surprised, 
perhaps,  as  I  am  at  her  Buddhist  talk  and  account 
of  Madame  Blavatsky ! 

I  had  another  excursion  with  Miss  Fenton,  when  I 
persuaded  her  to  go  with  me  to  Franklin  Park  by 
way  of  the  street  cars.  We  took  a  Grove  Hall 
electric,  which  frightened  Miss  Fenton  a  good  deal, 
and  she  amused  me  by  planting  her  boot-heel  on  the 
floor  of  the  car,  thinking  she  should  thus  escape  an 
overflow  of  electricity  !  But  she  forgot  her  terror  as 
we  went  on.  We  reached  the  Park,  and  Miss  Fenton 
was  pleased  to  find  that  there  were  "  barges  "  run 
ning,  which  we  could  take,  and  could  be  conveniently 

14 


210  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

carried  about  the  Park  for  the  small  sum  of  twenty- 
five  cents !  So  we  had  a  delightful  tour  and  were 
shown  all  the  principal  points  of  interest,  passing  on 
through  lovely  avenues  of  trees,  and  returning  to  our 
car  in  time  to  be  home  before  sunset. 

I  have  not  had  much  else  to  do  with  Miss  Fenton, 
for  in  this  lovely  September  weather  I  went  to  make 
a  visit  to  the  Brands,  and  I  was  with  them  some  days. 
They  are  close  upon  some  lovely  woods,  where  we 
could  walk  every  day ;  and  then  they  took  me  some 
charming  drives,  and  I  could  learn  all  about  the 
beautiful  environs  of  Boston,  without  the  long  drive 
from  its  centre  through  close  streets  lined  with 
brick  houses.  We  saw  a  wonderful  illumination  at 
Waltham,  over  the  river,  one  evening. 

Anna  and  I  wasted  time  one  day  in  a  feeble  effort 
to  secure  some  seats  for  the  afternoon  rehearsals  of 
the  Symphony  Orchestra.  I  call  it  "  feeble  "  because 
we  could  have  found  out  by  inquiry  that  there  was  no 
use  in  trying  for  them ;  but  when  we  saw  $7.50  seats 
advertised  for  the  winter  course  of  rehearsals,  we 
formed  the  brilliant  plan  of  buying  a  ticket,  and 
securing  one  seat,  and  taking  turns  in  making  use  of 
it  to  hear  the  music,  thus  sharing  the  expense.  But 
anybody  might  have  told  us  that  we  could  not  prac 
tise  economy  this  way,  and  that  even  the  afternoon 
rehearsals  are  an  aristocratic  treat  and  that  one  has 
to  pay  high  for  the  privilege  of  buying  them.  How 
ever,  we  followed  a  little  crowd  Tuesday  morning 
into  the  Music  Hall,  and  found  our  way  to  some 
front  seats.  It  was  not  for  some  time  that  we  dis 
covered  what  was  really  going  on,  and  I  came  near 
making  a  bid  for  a  ticket  that  seemed  to  come  within 
our  means,  but  Anna  pulled  my  arm  and  pointed  out 
the  placard  announcing  that  the  bids  were  for  the 
"  premium "  of  each  seat,  to  be  added  to  its  price  of 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  211 

$7.50.  And  we  soon  found  that  there  was  nothing 
likely  to  come  within  our  reach  that  day  nor  the 
next,  and  we  left,  feeling,  however,  that  we  had  been 
in  distinguished  company. 

We  do  not  lose  hope  of  hearing  the  rehearsals, 
however,  for  the  upper  balcony  will  be  reserved  for 
twenty-five  cent  tickets,  and  if  we  can  only  go  early 
enough  we  shall  stand  as  good  a  chance  as  some 
thousand  or  two  others  for  a  seat  in  the  upper  bal 
cony,  or  a  favorable  "stand"  somewhere.  But  we 
had  hoped  to  own  a  seat  between  us,  which  we  could 
share  each  afternoon,  taking  turns  in  sitting. 

One  afternoon  lately  we  went  to  the  "  matinee  "  at 
the  Boston  Theatre  to  see  the  play  of  "The  Old 
Homestead,"  and  really  it  was  great  fun.  The 
Brands  told  me  I  ought  to  see  it  as  presenting  a  true 
picture  of  Vermont  life,  and  we  did  enjoy  it  im 
mensely.  I  laughed  and  I  cried,  for  the  scenery  and 
effect  of  it  all  is  indeed  charming. 

There  is  a  scene  representing  the  old  house,  and  a 
well,  with  the  well-sweep  and  old  oaken  bucket,  — 
even  a  log  lying  partly  chopped  with  a  pile  of  chips, 
and  a  churn,  with  pails  and  bee-hives  ;  perhaps 
one  would  not  see  them  really  all  together  in  this 
way,  but  surely  it  is  a  homely  scene.  And  would  you 
believe  it  ?  —  in  comes  a  yoke  of  oxen,  drawing  a  reg 
ular  load  of  hay !  this  did  upset  me,  and  I  fell  to 
laughing  and  crying,  I  believe.  I  can't  tell  you 
whether  the  New  York  drawing-room  is  as  true  to 
life.  It  was  all  so  very  well  acted,  too.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  shall  find  myself  dropping  in  often  to 
renew  my  remembrances  of  my  country  home,  but 
this  surely  was  a  delightful  afternoon's  entertain 
ment,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  how  those  quiet 
things  of  home  out-door  life  can  be  shown  in  so  pic 
turesque  and  dramatic  a  way. 


212  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

We  hare  had  our  visit  to  the  Ames  Building  that 
we  have  been  planning  lately.  Godfrey  Brand  suc 
ceeded  in  getting  us  a  "  permit "  to  go ;  for  it  seems 
there  was  such  an  unruly  crowd  pressing  in  to  go  up 
to  the  top  of  the  building  that  "they"  have  had  to 
limit  the  number  of  visitors. 

Perhaps  you  have  heard  about  this  building,  which 
rises  up,  fourteen  stories  high,  at  the  corner  of  Court 
and  Washington  streets !  Happily  a  great  many 
elevators  make  it  possible  to  reach  all  the  different 
numerous  apartments  of  this  building,  and  there  is 
besides  an  express  elevator,  that  takes  one  straight 
up  to  the  top,  without  stopping  at  any  offices,  or 
"stations,"  below.  We  did  not  have  Miss  Fenton 
with  us,  and  her  smelling-bottles,  but  I  almost  felt  as 
if  I  needed  one  of  them  as  we  flew  up  to  the  top 
with  bewildering  quickness.  Yet  I  did  not  disgrace 
myself  by  another  fainting  fit,  for  the  air  was  very 
refreshing  as  we  got  out  upon  the  roof. 

Here,  indeed,  was  the  whole  broad  roof  of  the 
building  for  us  to  walk  out  upon,  and  such  a  magnifi 
cent  view  on  every  side  !  It  was  one  of  these  beauti 
ful  September  days  we  have  had,  with  an  east  wind 
bringing  in  just  a  delicate  mist  of  a  fog  to  give  a  soft 
light  to  everything ;  and  the  practical  part  of  my 
mind  was  much  delighted  by  having  all  the  numerous 
points  of  view  explained  to  me.  My  old  friends, 
Bunker  Hill  Monument  and  the  cupola  of  the  State 
House,  were  easily  seen,  and  the  islands  in  the  har 
bor  came  most  picturesquely  into  the  view.  It  was, 
indeed,  all  a  charming  sight.  If  I  am.  ever  a  lawyer, 
I  shall  surely  have  an  office  in  the  top  of  this  build 
ing,  and  then  if  I  have  no  clients  I  can  solace  myself 
with  this  view. 

Do  not  be  afraid,  my  dear  Kate  !  I  am  not  turning 
my  mind  to  any  of  the  learned  professions.  Indeed, 


THE  NEW  f TARRY  AND  LUCY.  213 

you  will  think  I  have  forgotten  about  my  University 
plans.  No,  they  are  still  seething,  but  I  have  not  yet 
decided  about  the  courses  I  am  to  pursue.  I  have  not 
yet  decided,  either,  about  my  boarding  place  for  the 
winter.  I  would  like  much  to  be  able  to  go  to  the 
pleasant  home  of  the  "  Helping  Hand "  Society  on 
Charles  Street,  and  I  have  been  allowed  to  see  one  of 
its  comfortable  rooms  overlooking  the  Charles  River, 
and  the  sunset  view  beyond  the  bridge  ;  but  if  I  find 
I  can  afford  to  pay  more  than  the  low  price  needed 
for  board  and  lodging  there,  I  feel  that  I  ought  to 
leave  the  space  for  some  one  else.  There  are  many 
comfortable  houses  open  to  such  students  as  myself, 
who  come  to  Boston  for  their  education.  I  went  to 
see  one  of  these  boarding-houses  the  other  day  on 
Berkeley  Street,  where  perhaps  I  may  decide  to  go. 

I  wish  much,  however,  that  I  could  join  some  such 
arrangement  as  is  offered  by  the  University  Settle 
ment  in  New  York.  You  know  that  is  placed  in  one 
of  the  poorest  and  most  hopeless  districts  in  New 
York,  and  the  workers  there  make  of  their  own  home 
a  central  place  to  bring  in  the  children,  the  women 
and  the  families  of  the  poorest  class  about  them,  not 
only  for  entertainment,  but  for  improvement  in 
health  and  cleanliness. 

I  would  like  very  much,  in  my  winter  life  here,  to 
be  able  to  do  something  for  somebody  besides  myself, 
and  if  I  had  a  home  among  a  poorer  class  of  people  in 
this  way,  where  I  could  visit  and  help  sometimes,  I 
should  be  consoled  in  thinking  I  was  spending  my 
winter  not  merely  in  improving  myself,  but  in  being 
of  use  to  other  people.  I  have  come  out  from  my 
own  home  life,  and  have  not  any  of  its  duties  to 
occupy  my  time,  and  surely  I  ought  to  be  able  to  find 
some  leisure  time  to  give  to  others.  I  have  felt  it  the 
last  week  or  two,  when  I  have  been  going  round 


214  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

vaguely  amusing  myself,  and  to  one  entertainment 
after  another.  To  be  sure,  we  have  been  having  a 
back-ground  of  study,  with  our  French  lessons  and 
with  my  University  preparation.  But  I  am  quite 
longing  for  my  course  of  study  to  begin,  when  I  shall 
have  my  regular  hours  for  going  to  recitations  and 
lectures,  leaving  me  certain  allotted  hours  for  other 
interests. 

If  I  cannot  find  any  boarding  place  on  the  Univer 
sity  Settlement  plan,  I  think  to  ask  permission  to 
give  my  services  to  the  Associated  Charities  institu 
tion.  These  charities  are  carried  on  on  so  liberal  a 
principle  that  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  glad  to  work  with 
them.  The  different  visitors  take  charge  of  certain 
families,  for  whom  they  become  responsible.  They 
are  not  to  provide  for  their  needs,  but  they  are  to 
find  out  when  they  need  sympathy  and  are  ready 
with  advice.  They  help  the  heads  of  the  families  to 
put  aside  their  money  in  savings,  and  I  do  not  see 
why  they  cannot  work  to  encourage  the  Neighborhood 
Guilds,  of  which  I  am  reading  and  which  I  am  much 
interested  in.  These  are  intended  to  keep  up  the 
home  and  social  life  of  a  neighborhood ;  clubs  can  be 
formed  of  members  of  a  family,  of  young  women,  or 
young  men ;  but,  besides,  social  meetings  are  pro 
posed,  so  that  a  small  community  can  feel  that  it  is 
working  together,  and  that  its  members  are  not  mere 
beneficiaries  helped  by  other  people  and  mere  objects 
of  charity,  but  as  if  they  contributed  to  the  life  of  all. 

I  have  had  a  chance  to  talk  with  many  of  the  de 
voted  workers  for  the  "Associated  Charities."  One 
advantage  of  this  work  is  that  it  is  "  associated." 
They  know  of  all  other  work  going  on  in  the  same 
direction.  They  keep  record  of  all  applications  made 
to  other  societies,  so  that  they  become  acquainted  with 
the  regular  "  mendicants "  that  go  from  one  benevo- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  215 

lent  society  to  another  for  mere  temporary  relief. 
When  I  talk  with  one  of  the  workers  in  this  society, 
I  wish  I  were  five  or  six  young  women,  instead  of 
being  only  one,  that  I  might  offer  a  dozen  more  hands 
and  half  a  dozen  more  heads  instead  of  my  little  one 
for  their  service. 

I  have  been  reading  an  interesting  article  by  Miss 
Octavia  Hill  in  the  "  Nineteenth  Century."  on  "  Deal 
ing  with  the  Poor,"  where  she  speaks  earnestly  of  the 
advantage  of  co-operation  in  all  the  numerous  schemes 
for  improving  the  condition  of  the  poor.  In  the 
same  magazine  we  found  the  account  given  by 
Francis  Galton  of  "  Identification  by  Finger-tips." 
You  have  probably  read  the  notices  of  his  statements 
of  this  "visible  token  of  identity  "  which  he  describes, 
finding  it  in  the  marks  on  the  tips  of  the  fingers,  and 
as  persisting  throughout  the  whole  of  a  man's  life. 

We  were  much  amused  at  his  suggestions  of  its 
utility ;  but  how  convenient  it  will  be,  if  they  can 
only  carry  out  the  discoveries  a  little  further !  Gal- 
ton  gives  a  description  of  a  convenient  apparatus  to 
use  in  recording  the  impressions  taken  from  the 
finger-tips,  in  what  he  calls  "finger-printing."  But 
will  they  not  in  time  invent  some  kind  of  sealing-wax 
that  can  be  used  without  burning  the  fingers  ?  And 
then  we  can  make  our  own  impressions  from  our 
fingers  in  sealing  our  letters  !  Think  of  the  value  of 
such  an  impression  !  It  will  be  truly  a  signet,  not  of 
any  fanciful  family  coat-of-arms,  but  our  own  per 
sonal  signet,  — •  an  impression  of  my  own  fingers,  that 
cannot  be  forged  or  mistaken !  You  must  imagine 
such  a  signature  to  this  letter ! 


216  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER   SEVENTEENTH. 

XX. 

HARRY  TO   HIS   MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  Sept.  27,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  We  have  had  a  lovely  day, 
and  I  know  how  you  have  enjoyed  it  at  home.  I  wish 
I  could  see  your  maples  and  chestnuts  as  they  begin 
to  take  on  their  fiery  colors.  You  see  I  am  back 
in  good  Mrs.  Metcalf  s.  I  broke  camp  at  Cambridge 
on  Wednesday  for  two  excellent  reasons. 

First,  the  college  term  begins  next  Thursday,  so  that 
they  wanted  my  room  there,  unless  I  wanted  to  enter 
as  a  special  student  in  making  clothes-pins  or  some 
other  art  or  science.  Second,  that  I  had  told  Mrs. 
Metcalf  that  when  the  "  family "  came  back  from 
Swampscott  with  her,  I  would  come  too.  We  thought 
then  that  this  would  be  cool  weather.  In  truth,  it  is 
as  hot  as  blazes.  The  "  family  "  would  be  happier  at 
Swampscott,  and  I  at  Cambridge.  But  we  cannot  all 
have  what  we  want  to  have.  So  here  I  am,  —  mos 
quitoes,  thermometer  at  ninety,  and  everything  else 
to  make  one  comfortable. 

The  weather  is  still  so  like  summer  that  we  keep 
up  our  out-of-town  excursions.  Saturday  afternoon, 
you  know,  we  have  free ;  and  I  had  ventured  to  ask 
Miss  Brand  and  Miss  Sandford  if  they  would  not  like 
to  go  and  see  the  Middlesex  Fells.  The  Middlesex 
Fells  are,  or  is,  a  bit  of  forest,  rock  and  wilderness, 
which  has  not  been  broken  into  in  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  since  old  Governor  Winthrop  ate  some 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  217 

bread  and  cheese  there.  A  gentleman  named  Wright 
made  a  vigorous  effort  to  have  it  retained  as  a  sort  of 
State  park.  He  is  dead,  and  I  believe  nobody  cares 
anything  about  it  now.  But  all  the  same,  it  has  not 
yet  been  cut  into  building  lots. 

Saturday  was  a  charming  day.  It  was  very  hot  in 
the  morning,  but  in  the  afternoon  we  got  an  east 
wind,  or  what  the  newspapers  call  an  "  anti-cyclonic 
reaction  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean."  As  a  matter  of 
practice,  I  am  rather  glad  I  do  not  have  to  say  this 
every  time  I  want  to  say  "  east  wind." 

We  met  by  agreement  opposite  Winthrop's  statue  in 
Scollay  Square  and  took  one  of  the  street  cars.  There 
was  a  Maiden  car  just  ahead  of  us,  and  our  first 
adventure  was  in  Charlestown,  when  one  of  the 
horses  on  that  car  fell  down,  almost  dead.  I  suppose 
that  is  what  happens  on  these  hot  days,  with  these 
relentless  loads ;  but  that  poor  dying  horse,  which,  in 
a  way,  had  died  that  people  like  us  might  have  a 
pleasant  afternoon,  was  a  sad  sight  as  we  passed  by. 
It  made  me  long  for  the  time  when  cars  worked  by 
steam  power,  cable  cars,  or  electric  cars,  might  take 
the  place  of  these  horse  cars.  Our  car  was  terribly 
overloaded ;  we  stopped  on  Winter  Hill,  which  I 
remember  reading  about  in  the  Revolutionary  books, 
and  when  the  horses  started  again  it  was  really 
terrible  to  see  their  struggles  before  the  thing  would 

go. 

You  pass  near  enough  to  the  Tufts  College  build 
ings  to  see  what  a  nice  establishment  that  is.  I 
hardly  knew  the  name  of  the  place  before.  There  is 
a  beautiful  chapel,  which  perhaps  is  the  finest  build 
ing  of  them  all.  One  of  the  antiquities  of  Medford  is 
the  old  Cradock  house,  but  that  we  did  not  see.  We 
did  pass  the  old  Eoyall  house,  which  has  nothing  to 
do  with  royalty,  but  with  a  certain  Colonel  Eoyall. 


218  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

He  built  the  house,  copying  the  house  of  a  nobleman 
pf  Antigua,  but  he  was  so  far  true  to  his  name  that  he 
went  off  to  Halifax  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution 
and  afterwards  sailed  to  England.  Tory  or  not,  he 
said  in  a  letter  which  we  found  in  the  history  of 
Medford,  "  I  shall  leave  North  America  with  great 
reluctance,  but  my  health  and  business  require  it,  and 
I  hope,  through  the  goodness  of  God,  if  my  life  is 
spared,  to  be  able  to  return  soon."  All  the  same,  the 
State  confiscated  his  property  as  the  property  of  a 
Tory,  and  he  never  did  return.  But  when  he  died  he 
left  twenty  thousand  acres  of  land  to  Harvard  College 
for  a  professorship  of  law,  and  out  of  this  the 
Harvard  Law  School  was  born. 

At  Medford  Square  we  left  the  car,  as  I  had  been 
instructed  by  Mr.  Outlake,  and  walked  right  over  to 
the  Fells.  It  is  not  a  long  walk,  and  both  my  young 
ladies  were  country-bred,  so  that  they  were  not  afraid 
of  it.  For  the  first  time  this  year  I  was  tempted  by  hard 
apples  lying  along  in  the  lane.  You  know  they  say 
that  evolutionists  call  the  longing  for  green  apples 
atavism,  or  a  retrogression  to  the  appetite  of  our 
ancestors,  when  they  all  ate  vegetables. 

When  we  got  fairly  into  the  wild  region,  first  of  all 
we  climbed  a  little  hill,  which  had  a  fine  view  south 
and  east.  The  "  gilded  dome  "  shone  out  bright  and 
clear.  Then  we  had  a  regular  ramble  through  the 
woods,  and  I  might  have  fancied  myself  in  Atherton. 
Miss  Sandford  said  it  was  "  Astney  again."  It 
seemed  so  like  home  to  be  walking  over  the  light  soil 
of  pine  needles  and  leaves.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
Fells  which  compares  with  one  of  our  mountain 
climbs,  but  still  the  whole  region  is  rocky  and 
picturesque.  A  part  of  it  has  been  taken  for  some 
sort  of  water-works,  so  that  you  stumble  on  a  gate 
house  when  you  suppose  you  are  in  the  midst  of  a 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  219 

swamp.  But  they  have  not  spoiled  it,  and  it  would  be 
pretty  hard  for  them  to  spoil  it.  Spot  Pond,  which  is 
almost  wholly  surrounded  by  the  woody  region  that 
we  call  Middlesex  Fells,  is  one  of  the  really  beautiful 
ponds.  I  believe  it  comes  in,  somehow  or  other,  into 
the  system  of  the  water-works,  and  Mr.  Outlake  told 
me  that  it  was  regarded,  at  the  time  when  the  water 
works  were  built  as  having  the  very  purest  water  of 
any  pond  in  eastern  Massachusetts.  It  has  proved 
since,  he  says,  that  this  purity  or  non-purity  of  the 
water  depends  on  certain  general  laws ;  and  that, 
as  you  approach  the  sea,  it  is  more  and  more  af 
fected,  no  one  knows  exactly  why  ;  so  that  a  pond 
on  the  top  of  your  hills  at  Atherton  is  necessarily 
purer  than  a  pond  here.  But  the  great  point  is  to  keep 
them  free  from  surface  drainage,  and  one  of  the 
great  advantages  of  making  a  State  park  of  Middle 
sex  Fells  would  be  that  the  water  in  Spot  Pond 
would  be  preserved  uncontaminated. 

But  I  need  not  say  to  you  that  Miss  Brand  and  Miss 
Sandford  and  I  did  not  discuss  questions  of  hygiene 
nor  the  chemical  composition  of  water.  We  had  a 
regular  old-fashioned  Vermont  time.  We  made  Miss 
Brand  confess  that  the  way  to  spend  every  day  of 
September  and  October  was  to  spend  it  in  the  open 
air.  I  told  them  that  Boston  was  as  good  a  place  for 
country  life  as  Astney  was,  if  you  would  only  think 
so.  They  were  ready  enough  to  assent  to  this  some 
what  bold  proposal  ;  but  I  should  think  that,  like  all 
other  Boston  girls,  they  were  laying  out  for  them 
selves  this  winter  enough  work  for  fourteen  strong 
women  to  carry  through.  At  any  rate,  there  was 
great  talk  about  Associated  Charities  and  University 
Settlements  and  other  things  which  made  me  hold  my 
breath.  I  understood  some  of  them  and  did  not  under 
stand  some  of  them  ;  I  only  saw  that  they  were  quite 


220  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

eager  to  put  the  whole  world  in  apple-pie  order.  Do 
you  remember  your  old  story  of  the  lady  who  looked 
so  unhappy  because  she  could  not  make  everybody 
happy  ?  I  should  say  that  her  sin  was  rather  the  sin 
of  the  general  run  of  the  conscientious  women  who 
make  up  the  feminine  life  of  Boston,  so  far  as  it  shows 
itself  to  an  outsider. 

I  note  what  my  dear  Nahum  says  about  leaving 
school.  When  I  was  at  his  age  I  told  our  dear  father 
the  same  thing ;  and  he  said  to  me  that  I  must  stay 
at  the  High  School  two  years.  I  was  wild  to  go  off, 
as  Nahum  is,  and  try  my  fortune  at  Burlington  or  at 
St.  John.  Father  said  to  me,  in  substance,  that  there 
are  two  sorts  of  men  in  the  world,  —  those  who  tell 
other  people  what  to  do,  and  those  who  do  what  they 
are  told  to  do.  He  told  me  that  I  was  to  stay  at  the 
High  School,  because  he  did  not  want  me  to  belong 
through  my  life  to  class  number  two.  He  did  not 
so  much  as  ask  me  whether  I  wished  to  stay  or  not ; 
but  I  stayed. 

That  is  the  reason  why  Nahum  must  stay.  And  I 
tell  him  to  stay  the  more  readily  because  of  a  talk  I 
had  in  the  street  car,  the  other  day,  with  one  of  our 
directors  who  has  been  kind  to  me,  and,  I  think,  likes 
me.  He  asked  how  the  office  liked  being  moved  from 
Leeds  to  Boston,  and  then  told  how  he  came  himself. 
He  said :  "  I  am  the  regular  mill-boy  of  the  story 
books,  only  I  never  was  in  a  mill.  I  am  the  boy  who 
walks  to  Boston  with  a  quarter  in  his  pocket  when 
he  comes  in." 

Here  I  pricked  up  my  ears,  for  I  was  thinking  of 
Nahum.  Mr.  Welsh  went  on  with  his  story  and  said 
that  his  mother  wanted  him  to  stay  at  school,  but  he 
thought  he  knew  better.  So  he  started  to  find  his 
fortunes.  Well,  he  found  they  were  very  small 
fortunes.  Glad  to  get  three  dollars  a  week  and  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  221 

spend  it  all  for  his  board,  he  was.  The  truth  was 
there  was  nothing  he  could  do  that  other  people  could 
not  do  better.  He  was,  however,*  too  proud  to  go 
home.  And  the  upshot  of  it  was  that  he  had  to  put 
himself  night  after  night  at  evening  schools  here,  so 
that  he  could  make  any  show  at  all.  "  Four  winters, 
Mr.  Merton,"  he  said,  "I  slaved  at  the  evening 
schools,  three  hours  a  night,  counting  my  study  at 
home.  I  could  not  go  to  the  theatre  or  to  a  concert. 
I  made  all  my  visits  Saturday  and  Sunday  evenings, 
so  that  I  might  make  up  what  my  mother  had  wanted 
me  to  do  at  home."  And  he  said  he  was  much  obliged 
for  the  evening-school  system  ;  but  if  he  had  not  been 
a  fool  of  the  first  order,  he  should  not  have  needed  'to 
resort  to  it.  And  I  should  think  that  after  a  boy  had 
done  what  he  had  to  do  all  day,  handling  casks  and 
barrels  and  boxes  with  his  own  hands,  running  freight 
elevators,  standing  over  stevedores  with  the  ther 
mometer  at  fifteen  below  zero,  he  would  not  have  had 
much  heart  for  his  algebra  or  his  French. 

I  found  Mr.  Welsh  was  curious  about  Mr.  Price 
Hughes,  the  English  preacher.  So  I  asked  him  to 
come  to  church  with  me  to-day,  and  he  did.  The 
church  was  crowded.  People  said  it  began  to  look 
like  regular  work  again.  I  was  glad  to  help  the 
ushers,  who  were  hard-worked,  and  so  I  got  Mr.  Welsh 
a  good  seat.  As  for  me,  I  was  glad  to  stand. 

Mr.  Hughes  does  not  look  as  I  supposed  he  was 
going  to.  He  is  a  very  efficient  working  minister  in 
London,  but  he  looks  more  like  a  college  man,  —  a  sort 
of  scholarly  look,  —  wears  his  beard,  with  a  small 
moustache,  and  spectacles.  But  you  very  soon  forget 
how  he  looks.  He  is  very  wide-awake  and  strong. 
His  sermon  was  "  Thy  will  be  done ;  as  in  heaven,  so 
on  earth."  And  it  was  just  the  sort  of  sermon  that 
you  would  like. 


222  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

"  We  are  not  under  any  obligation  to  wear  sandals 
because  Jesus  Christ  wore  them."  There  was  that 
sort  of  "  horse  sense "  in  the  whole  thing,  enough  to 
show  that  he  was  used  to  dealing  with  men  and  women 
right  in  the  midst  of  life,  and  was  not  satisfied  with 
any  studies  of  the  Dark  Ages  or  any  other  ages.  I 
was  particularly  taken  by  the  point  that  God's  will 
must  be  done  among  men  on  earth,  and  not  in  any 
cloister  or  hermit's  cell,  as  we  think  Catholics  believe, 
and  for  that  matter  not  to  be  done  in  Paradise,  as, 
perhaps,  Protestants  believe.  It  has  got  to  be  done 
here  —  I  suppose  in  the  making  of  clothes-pins  or  the 
washing  of  clothes  —  precisely  as  it  is  done  in  heaven. 

It  was  very  clear  that  he  interested  the  people,  and 
Mr.  Welsh  was  very  glad  he  went.  I  shall  try  to  go 
Tuesday  night  to  hear  him  again.  I  was  glad  to  see 
so  many  sensible  people  there,  who,  I  think,  will  give 
him  a  good  welcome  here. 

I  wrote  all  this  before  going  to  church  in  the  even 
ing.  I  have  been  round  again,  and  our  own  Dr.  Haynes 
preached.  As  the  Western  man  said,  for  a  steady 
drink  he  is  good  enough  for  tne;  and  I  should  not 
have  minded  even  if  we  had  not  had  the  evangelist  in 
the  morning.  But  I  suppose  I  am  old-fashioned  and 
do  not  care  for  variations  on  Sunday.  He  talked 
about  publicans  and  sinners.  I  suppose  the  sermon 
was  not  meant  for  me,  because  he  said  directly  that  he 
was  not  talking  to  boys  or  girls  or  to  women,  but  to 
hard-headed  men,  men  of  middle  age.  He  had  plenty 
of  them  there  to  hear  him.  Indeed,  I  was  rather  sur 
prised  when  an  English  gentleman,  who  came  into  the 
office  the  other  day  and  was  talking  with  Mr.  Welsh, 
said  that  a  great  many  more  men  came  to  church  in 
America,  he  thought,  than  were  in  the  habit  of  coming 
in  England.  He  said  also,  what  I  should  not  have  be- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  223 

lieved  from  hearing  Mr.  Hughes,  that  the  English 
preacher  condescends  in  speaking  to  his  audience.  He 
laughed  and  said  that  in  a  high-and-dry  church  you 
would  hear  a  man  in  a  very  white  surplice  say  in  a 
patronizing  way  to  the  congregation :  "  You  may  not 
be  aware,  my  dear  friends,  that  many  centuries  ago 
the  wickedness  of  the  world  was  such  that  the  great 
God  was  obliged  to  wash  it  out  by  a  universal  deluge. 
It  will  be  of  interest  to  you  to  know  that  He  preserved 
one  chosen  family  of  those  who  had  not  bowed  the 
knee  to  false  idols,  and  who  were  to  be  the  seed  of  His 
true  church,  by  the  remarkable  expedient  of  placing 
them  in  an  ark,  together  with  all  the  animals  the  lives 
of  which  he  wished  to  preserve.  The  history  of  the 
ark  is  very  curious  and  interesting,"  —  and  so  on  and 
so  on. 

Certainly  that  is  not  the  way  that  Dr.  Haynes  talks 
to  us,  nor  was  it  the  way  that  Mr.  Hughes  talked, 
and  I  do  not  hear  much  preaching  in  that  line.  Dr. 
Haynes  described  Jesus'  supping  with  the  publicans 
and  talking  with  Matthew.  "  If  Jesus  should  come 
to-day,  he  would  surely  be  found  down  in  the  Stock 
Exchange  and  in  State  Street."  "The  Whitechapel 
of  society  in  America  is  not  at  the  lower  end ;  it  is  at 
the  upper  end."  "Men  like  to  see  how  a  theory 
works.  If  you  object  to  creeds,  come  to  the  example  of 
how  the  creeds  work ;  come  to  the  life  of  Jesus  itself." 

But  I  am  afraid  you  have  found  out  before  this, 
dear  Mother,  that  I  am  sleepy ;  and  I  shall  follow 
your  great  gospel  of  going  to  bed  when  I  am  sleepy, 
and  preach  my  own  sermon  from  the  text,  "  If  he 
sleep  he  shall  do  well." 

Tuesday  morning. 

I  meant  to  have  written  you,  dear  Mother,  last 
night ;  but  I  was  "  dead  beat,"  and  following  up  the 


224  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

gospel  with  which.  I  closed  Sunday  night,  I  went  to 
bed  as  soon  as  Mrs.  Metcalf  would  let  me ;  and  I  am 
much  more  fit  to  write  to  you  now,  before  breakfast, 
than  I  should  have  been  if  I  had  tried  before. 

You  see  we  had  —  or  we  thought  we  had  —  on  the 
Pavonia,  which  came  in  yesterday,  some  friends  of  the 
Outlakes,  a  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fordyce  whom  they  met  in 
Switzerland.  Mr.  Outlake,  by  way  of  hospitality, 
wanted  to  have  some  one  meet  them,  and  I  was  sent 
over,  which  was  good  luck  for  me  ;  for  it  was  a  good 
place  to  spend  some  hours  of  a  deadly  hot  day.  I  do 
not  dare  tell  you  how  hot  it  was  on  the  sunny  side  of 
our  office. 

It  is  a  very  curious  business,  and,  as  dear  Dr.  Prim 
rose  would  say,  "  very  instructive."  You  see  she  had 
— the  Pavonia,  I  mean  —  nearly  a  thousand  passen 
gers.  It  was  a  town  afloat,  and  a  bigger  town  than 
Atherton  at  that.  More  than  half  of  these  people 
were  steerage  passengers,  which  means  people  from 
every  country  in  the  world,  who  have  come  over  to 
become  Americans.  Of  course,  I  knew  the  Fordyces 
were  not  there.  Between  first  and  second-class  cabin 
passengers  I  did  not  pretend  to  discriminate. 

But  there  is  a  handy  printed  list  of  first-class  pas 
sengers  ;  and  it  was  easy  enough  to  find  that  among 
the  F's  there  were  no  Fordyces.  I  found  the  purser, 
and  he  said  that  at  the  last  moment,  almost,  they 
changed  their  tickets.  So  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  to 
watch  the  others.  And  just  as  I  was  crowding  around 
some  people  who  spoke  a  language  I  could  not  speak 
nor  understand,  and  which  no  one  else  could  speak  or 
understand,  who  should  I  run  against  but  my  nice, 
pretty  Miss  Lucy  Sandford,  who  had  come  across  a 
Swedish  woman  who  wanted  to  meet  her  brother  and 
her  sister.  We  found  them  easily  enough,  and  a  very 
pretty  scene  it  was,  the  hugging  and  kissing  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  225 

general  joy  as  they  met,  after  I  do  not  know  how 
long.  While  they  were  occupied  in  their  caresses, 
and  while  we  were  waiting  for  the  Custom  House 
people  to  be  sure  whether  they  had  or  had  not  brought 
any  brandy  or  diamonds,  —  or  tin  plate,  I  suppose,  — 
Miss  Sandford  and  I  had  a  chance  to  study  other 
romances  of  which  there  were  a  plenty. 

For,  really,  a  great  many  of  these  people  land  as  if 
they  were  in  a  wilderness.  I  saw  a  man  w^th  a  gun 
and  a  shot-belt,  who  really  thought,  I  believe,  that  he 
was  going  to  kill  his  own  rabbits  and  partridges  as  he 
walked  up  to  the  State  House.  Poor  fellow  !  I  am 
afraid  he  saw  nothing  but  sparrows,  and  the  policemen 
would  not  let  him  shoot  them. 

The  whole  scene  is  chaotic  enough.  But  there 
were  over  nine  hundred  and  fifty  intelligent  people  — 
or  people  of  more  or  less  intelligence  —  who  were  try 
ing  to  bring  out  order  enough  for  their  own  purposes. 
There  were  fifty  or  sixty  officers  and  as  many  team 
sters  and  as  many  hack-drivers  —  who  are  glorified 
teamsters  —  trying  to  do  the  same  thing,  and  among 
us  all  we  succeeded  after  a  fashion.  The  Swedish 
friends  bade  us  good-by  with  many  broad  grins  and 
expressions  of  gratitude,  and  Miss  Sanford  and  I 
were  left  to  find  our  way  over  to  the  city  together. 

You  see  all  this  happened  at  East  Boston,  which 
is  your  old  Noddle's  Island,  where  you  went  on  the 
lobster  picnic  of  your  famous  stay. 

I  finish  this  broken  letter  after  coming  home  from 
Worcester.  Perhaps  you  saw  that  the  Democratic 
convention  met  there.  Do  not  think  I  went.  No 
constituency  is,  as  yet,  so  far  advanced  as  to  invite 
me  to  go.  And  though  I  had  so  manly  a  look,  which 
generally  savored  of  good-will  to  man,  that  the  ticket- 
man  offered  me  a  cheap  return  ticket,  I  was  obliged 


226  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

to  confess  that  no  such  honor  belonged  to  me.  By 
the  way,  is  it  not  a  little  curious  that,  seeing  there  is 
such  a  row  about  free  passes  when  they  are  given  to 
men  in  the  legislature,  every  convention  of  every  party 
should  insist  on  having  what  is  virtually  a  free  pass  — 
that  is  to  say,  half  rates  —  when  people  meet  annually 
for  partisan  purposes.  The  legislator  is  sworn  to  be 
impartial.  These  delegates  are  not  sworn.  In  fact, 
they  go  bgcause  they  are  not  impartial,  because  they 
are  partisans.  But  they  must  have  free  tickets  all 
round,  while  the  poor  senator  or  representative  must 
not  touch  one  with  one  of  his  fingers. 

But  I  do  not  often  write  politics  to  you.  No,  I  did 
not  go  near  the  convention,  having  more  attractive 
temptations.  I  knew  that  Miss  Sandford  and  her 
friend,  Miss  Brand,  were  going  to  Worcester,  if  it 
were  pleasant,  to  the  Commencement  of  the  new 
college,  Clark  University.  And  when  I  found  in 
the  morning  that  there  was  really  nothing  to  do  on 
our  side  of  the  office,  I  asked  for  an  afternoon  off, 
thinking  I  would  go  to  the  Commencement  too.  It 
is  the  college  where  William  Stevens  thought  he 
might  get  the  professorship  of  English  Literature. 
Perhaps  he  would;  but  they  have  not  yet  appointed 
any  such  professor.  Well,  Mr.  Outlake  said  "of 
course,"  and  I  slipped  off.  I  had  just  time  to  slam 
over  to  Kneeland  Street  in  a  herdic,  and  took  the 
train  just  as  it  started.  I  found  my  ladies,  without 
Godfrey  as  it  happened,  so  that  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  being  of  some  use  as  escort.  The  day  was  splen 
did,  though  hot  like  all  the  week  so  far.  It  is  an  in 
teresting 'ride  and  the  outlook  is  pretty.  I  tried  to 
show  them  my  pet  lions.  The  soldier  was  not  visible, 
however.  About  six  miles  out  from  Boston,  you  see 
the  only  soldier  the  United  States  maintains  on  the 
mainland  of  Massachusetts  —  if  you  look  sharp  enough. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  227 

He  is  the  sentinel  at  the  Watertown  Arsenal.  And 
every  day  he  has  to  put  on  his  white  cotton  gloves 
and  take  his  empty  musket  and  walk  up  and  down 
outside  the  gate  there  because  —  in  the  days  of  chiv 
alry  it  was  necessary  to  keep  a  lookout  at  Tamworth 
Castle !  At  least,  I  do  not  know  any  other  reason. 
Sometimes  he  is  tired  of  walking  and  stands  still. 
Then  I  call  him  our  standing  army.  Tuesday  we 
did  not  see  him  at  all.  Perhaps  in  the  freedom  of 
opinion,  he  asked  for  a  day  off,  as  I  did,  and  went  to 
the  Democratic  convention. 

The  Clark  University  is  an  enormous  building,  with 
lecture  rooms,  laboratory,  and  all  that,  I  should  think 
a  mile  south  of  Worcester  Common.  I  got  the  ladies 
out  from  the  crush  of  people  who  surrounded  a  very 
gorgeous  brass  bantl,  with  blue  and  white  uniforms 
and  a  magnificent  drum  major;  and  we  worked  our 
way  without  difficulty  to  the  right  place.  But  it 
proved  we  were  two  hours  too  early  for  the  ceremony, 
so  we  had  a  chance  to  see  the  Worcester  lions,  and 
Miss  Brand  led  the  way  at  once  quite  to  the  other  end 
of  the  town,  to  Antiquarian  Hall. 

You  never  know  where  to  find  things ;  but  Mr. 
Outlake  had  told  me,  if  I  went  to  Worcester,  to  see 
Michael  Angelo's  Moses  and  his  Jesus  Christ.  He 
said  the  only  copies  in  America  were  here ;  and  these 
not  at  any  art  museum  or  church,  but  at  Antiquarian 
Hall.  I  thought  that  would  please  Dr.  Primrose,  and, 
indeed,  anybody  who  thought  seriously.  It  seems  to 
say  in  such  a  straightforward  way  that  American  his 
tory  is  born  from  the  laws  of  Moses  and  the  life  of 
Christ.  But  they  have  a  thousand  other  things  to 
interest  you  at  "The  Antiquarian"  and  are  awfully 
good  to  visitors.  They  have  the  largest  collection  of 
newspaper  volumes  in  America,  and  some  of  the  very 
earliest.  They  have  wonderful  illustrations  of  Cen- 


228  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

tral  America,  and  are,  indeed,  the  people  who  carry  on 
explorations  there.  We  were  sorry  we  had  taken  so 
much  time  for  our  lunch  and  that  we  could  not  stay 
there  longer. 

But  at  three  we  had  to  be  at  the  other  end  of  the 
town,  at  Clark  University.  There  is  an  electric  car, 
"the  spinner,"  all  along  the  street  from  one  end  to 
the  other.  Here  we  climbed  to  the  top  of  another 
high-story-call  building  and  found  four  or  five  hun 
dred  people  assembled  for  the  Commencement.  It  is 
the  only  college  I  know  of  where  the  Commencement 
is  at  the  beginning  of  the  term  and  not  at  the  end. 
Dr.  Hall,  the  president,  is  the  "  Education "  man,  — 
Dr.  Stanley  Hall.  Don't  you  remember  his  lovely 
articles  in  Scribner's  about  the  sand  town  with  wooden 
inhabitants  that  those  boys  established  civil  govern 
ment  in? 

Well,  the  Commencement  also  differed  from  other 
Commencements  in  other  respects.  Instead  of  having 
a  lot  of  boys  tell  you,  in  periods  of  eleven  minutes, 
seven  minutes,  or  thirteen,  according  to  their  rank,  a 
lot  of  things  about  which  they  knew  nothing,  you  had 
here  a  lot  of  men  to  tell  you  what  they  did  know. 
First  and  chiefly,  their  wide-awake  president.  He 
startled  everybody,  I  think,  by  saying  and  showing 
that  this  is  the  most  remarkable  year  ever  known  in 
the  history  of  organized  education.  "  Ever  known ! " 
Think  of  that !  He  proved  it  too. 

After  him  Colonel  Hopkins  spoke  on  Governor 
Davis,  and  after  him  our  Boston  man,  Doctor  Hale, 
on  Doctor  Sargent.  Those  are  two  of  the  trustees 
who  have  died.  Then  Doctor  Carter,  president  of 
Williams  College,  made  a  very  interesting  address. 
What  pleased  me  was  that  one  of  the  Catholic  priests 
offered  the  opening  prayer,  and  the  whole  congrega 
tion  joined  him  in  the  Lord's  Prayer.  That  did  seem 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  229 

catholic.     I  had  never  heard  a  Catholic  priest  offer 
prayer  in  our  language  before. 

Well,  you  see  it  was  a  very  good  time.  The  young 
ladies  met  their  friend  at  the  college  ;  they  showed  us 
round  a  little ;  and  at  half-past  eight  I  was  at  home, 
and  now  am  going  to  bed. 

Dear  Mother,  I  am  always  yours, 

HAKKY. 


230  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTEE  EIGHTEENTH. 

XXI. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  Oct.  7,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  have  been  so  occupied  in 
these  beautiful  September  days  that  I  hardly  find 
time  to  write  you  my  history ;  yet  I  feel  that  I  must 
send  it  to  you,  even  if  for  nothing  more  than  to  see 
how  much  I  can  remember  of  the  impressions  I  have 
taken  as  the  days  go  by,  and  because  I  have  promised 
to  write  you  of  what  I  am  seeing  in  Boston.  I  almost 
feel  as  if  I  might  persuade  even  you  that  this  is  the 
place  for  you  to  come  and  live  in. 

We  had  a  most  enjoyable  time  the  other  day  at  the 
Old  State  House,  built,  as  you  remember,  in  1748,  on 
the  spot  where  the  first  Town  House  stood.  Every 
Bostonian  ought  to  go  there ;  for  here  are  collected 
many  valuable  relics  of  the  olden  time,  hundreds  of 
things  of  interest  that  we  stopped  to  look  at  and  talk 
about.  We  saw  some  very  interesting  portraits;  in 
particular  one  of  stern  old  Cotton  Mather,  and  we 
were  surprised  to  see  what  a  genial  man  he  seemed. 
We  thought  him  almost  worldly  looking,  with  a  fine, 
curly  wig,  and  a  generally  stylish  look.  We  wondered 
if  some  of  these  imposing-looking  worthies  would  not, 
indeed,  be  disappointed  if  they  had  to  come  back  to 
the  present  day  and  show  themselves  to  their  friends 
without  their  majestic  wigs.  It  is  no  wonder,  per 
haps,  that  the  youthful  generation  no  longer  look  up 
to  their  elders  with  the  same  awe  that  the  young  peo- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  231 

pie  must  have  felt  in  the  older  days,  when  they  had  to 
come  into  the  presence  of  these  dignified  beings. 

There  was  also  a  picture  of  Edward  Bromfield,  who 
was  born  and  died  in  the  first  house  built  on  Beacon 
Street.  Could  he  have  been  aware  of  what  a  distinc 
tion  it  was  to  give  him  ?  — glory  enough  for  one  man. 
There  is  also  a  portrait  of  a  most  "  fetching  "  girl,  if 
you  can  imagine  such  a  thing  in  these  olden  days. 
Only  she  did  not  belong  quite  as  far  back  as  the  days 
of  Cotton  Mather,  or  she  might  have  been  counted 
among  the  "witches."  But  she  is  dressed  very  styl 
ishly,  and  looks  as  if  she  were  used  to  being  admired. 
We  were  not  surprised  to  read  under  it  this  title :  "  A 
noted  Boston  Beauty,  Anne  Black,  who  married  a 
Blake  in  1800."  She  has  a  most  coquettish,  yet  rather 
winsome  face.  There  is  a  handsome  painting  of 
Josiah  Quincy  by  Gilbert  Stuart,  —  a  refined,  delicate 
face,  —  and  a  striking  picture  of  Edward  Everett. 

In  the  large  front  room  is  a  full-length  portrait, 
also  of  later  days,  of  that  most  magnificent  lady,  Mrs. 
Harrison  Gray  Otis,  by  Healy.  A  stranger  can  see 
that  she  was  a  woman  of  a  very  strong  personality, 
and  one  does  not  wonder  that  she  presided  over  a 
salon  and  held  position  in  society,  where  she  was  fond 
of  displaying  a  wide  hospitality.  And  she  showed 
her  influence  not  merely  in  society  ;  for  in  the  days  of 
the  Civil  War  she  was  active  in  helping  to  promote 
the  gatherings  of  women  assembled  to  work  for  the 
soldiers.  She  is  represented  with  one  shapely  hand 
resting  on  a  book  and  the  other  hanging  gracefully. 
Her  dress  is  very  elegant,  with  lace  stripes.  If  I  had 
been  told  this  was  the  picture  of  an  imperial  or  royal 
lady,  I  should  not  have  been  surprised. 

Then  there  were  many  older  things  of  interest ;  a 
fac-simile  of  an  invitation  to  attend  the  funeral  of 
Sir  William  Phipps,  —  a  most  gruesome  affair,  sur- 


232  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

rounded  by  death's  heads  and  solemn  mottoes,  one  of 
which  was,  "  Kemember  to  Die."  Here  was  the  Liberty 
Tree  lantern,  used  at  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  a 
fine  old  eight-day  clock  that  belonged  to  Matthew  Byles, 
of  whom  my  father  used  to  tell  entertaining  stories. 
This  bore  the  date  of  1750.  There  was  also  a  heavy  old 
chair  that  looks  as  if  it  would  never  wear  out,  made  of 
wood  from  the  ship  "  Resolute."  Another  old  chair  be 
longed  to  Elbridge  Gerry.  There  is,  too,  a  very  old 
picture  of  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  One  reads, 
printed  under  the  picture,  the  words,  "The  late  bat 
tle  :  700  Provincials  against  11  regular  regiments." 
Besides  all  these,  there  was  a  queer  old  cannon,  that 
we  were  told  was  fired  by  Lafayette,  when  he  visited 
Boston  in  1824. 

Then  it  was  exciting  to  see  a  fan  belonging  to 
Agnes  Surriage,  and  to  have  the  feeling  suddenly  that 
she  is  a  real  person  and  did  not  live  merely  in  the 
book  where  we  read  about  her.  It  was  just  a  simple- 
looking,  little  paper  fan,  such  as  we  might  buy  for  a 
small  sum  at  Houghton  and  Button's ;  but  how  valu 
able  it  seemed  to  our  eyes,  because  it  had  been  carried 
by  a  regular  heroine  of  romance  ! 

There  were  many  pictures  of  old  buildings  in  Bos 
ton  that  are  now  destroyed.  We  saw  some  beautiful 
tiles  taken  from  the  John  Hancock  house.  I  have 
been  told  much  of  the  regret  that  this  house  no  longer 
exists.  It  was  very  picturesque,  and  a  most  interest 
ing  memento  of  the  olden  times.  It  stood  on  Beacon 
Street,  a  little  below  the  State  House,  standing  back 
from  the  street,  and  you  went  up  to  it  from  a  series  of 
green  terraces.  It  was  of  gray  stone  with  white  fac 
ings,  and  it  would  have  been  indeed  an  ornament  in 
these  present  days,  in  place  of  the  modern  row  of 
brick  houses  that  takes  its  place. 

The  room  called  Curtis  Hall  contained  many  inter- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  233 

esting  engravings.  One  colored  print  was  very  strik 
ing,  representing  Washington  in  Trenton  after  the 
Revolution.  Washington  was  riding  down  the  street 
on  a  white  horse,  and  hundreds  of  people,  blacks, 
whites  and  Indians,  were  evidently  hurrying  along, 
with  crowds  of  ladies  throwing  flowers  in  front  of 
him.  This  picture  was  greatly  admired  by  some 
schoolboys  who  gazed  at  it  for  a  long  time  ;  and  I  felt 
as  if  I  ought  to  look  up  some  of  my  Vacation  School 
boys  to  interest  them  in  these  bits  of  history  and  give 
them  some  idea  of  the  lives  of  these  heroes. 

In  the  same  hall  was  Benjamin  Franklin's  printing- 
press,  —  a  queer  old  affair,  now  brown  with  age,  — 
with  fac-similes  of  the  papers  he  printed.  And  here, 
as  a  bit  of  later  history,  was  a  fine  print  showing  the 
opening  of  the  Cochituate  water-works,  and  I  remem 
bered  how  my  father  has  told  me  that  he  was  present 
at  this  great  celebration,  —  for  such  indeed  it  was,  — 
when  an  immense  crowd  collected,  filling  the  Common, 
to  see  the  white  column  of  water  rise  slowly  up, 
higher  and  higher,  from  the  Frog  Pond  below,  in  the 
midst  of  the  shouts  and  admiration  and  wonder  of  the 
people  below,  who  could  now  really  believe  that  Lake 
Cochituate  had  come  to  Boston. 

There  were  a  number  of  people  in  the  rooms,  men, 
women  and  children,  all  going  about  and  deeply  inter 
ested.  I  have  only  picked  out  a  few  of  the  hundred 
things  to  tell  you  about.  The  building  itself  has  been 
restored  to  as  near  its  original  condition  as  it  was  possi 
ble  to  make  it.  Even  the  carved  figures  of  the  lion  and 
unicorn  that  originally  decorated  it  have  been  replaced 
there.  The  Boston  Massacre  occurred  in  front  of  its 
doors.  In  it  Samuel  Adams  said  Independence  was 
born.  In  October,  1789,  Washington  received  the 
greetings  of  the  people  from  a  balcony  at  the  west 
end.  In  1776  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 


234  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

read  from  its  balcony.  I  think  it  ought  to  be  repeated 
from  that  place  every  Fourth  of  July  nowadays. 

I  have  given  you  all  this  account  because  looking 
into  the  past  is  so  much  in  contrast  with  the  other 
life  that  I  am  having  here,  in  the  world  outside  of 
Boston  and  in  its  present  history.  We  have  still  con 
tinued  to  take  delightful  excursions  into  the  beautiful 
suburbs  ;  and  if  I  could  tell  you  all  that  we  have  done 
in  these  wanderings  you  would  not  believe  that  I 
have  really  begun  my  university  life  and  rank  myself 
again  a  schoolgirl. 

Admitted  ?  Yes ;  but  I  feel  that  I  must  do  a  deal 
of  studying  to  keep  myself  along  in  the  ranks.  My 
hours  are  not  yet  absolutely  arranged,  so  I  am  taking 
advantage  still  of  these  wonderful  summer-autumn 
days  to  continue  our  outings.  But  I  cannot  take  time 
to  tell  of  our  delightful  day  at  Middlesex  Fells,  north 
of  Boston,  where  we  could  really  believe  we  were 
miles  away  from  a  city  and  from  universities  and  from 
old  histories  of  the  past.  I  do  not  know  but  Mr.  Mer- 
ton  and  I  tired  out  our  companion,  Rosamond  Brand, 
in  talking  about  Vermont  and  its  woods  and  hills,  and 
in  comparing  our  life  here  with  the  home  life  there. 
I  really  think  the  excursion  was  a  very  great  help  to 
me,  as  I  was  worrying  a  little  about  my  university 
work,  and  it  was  delightful  to  fling  all  my  thoughts 
and  doubts  to  the  winds  and  have  a  day  out  of  town. 
This  I  owe  to  Mr.  Merton ;  for  he  insisted  upon  it 
that  we  ought  to  take  this  day  for  an  excursion,  and 
he  quite  jeered  at  us  for  plodding  on  at  work. 

And  I  don't  know  but  he  likes  to  jeer  at  me  for  my 
desire  to  mingle  all  kinds  of  life  with  my  student  life 
in  Boston.  He  says  we  are  all  trying  to  do  too  much 
here.  I  have  ventured  to  speak  but  little  to  him  of 
my  plans  for  doing  something  to  help  the  many,  who 
are  struggling  here  to  live,  just  to  live  a  little  more 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  235 

happily,  by  working  with  the  Associated  Charities. 
As  soon  as  I  begin  to  talk  about  it  I  feel  as  if  it  were 
very  conceited  of  me  to  think  that  I  can  accomplish 
anything.  Still,  I  cannot  content  myself  with  the 
idea  of  giving  myself  up  merely  to  a  student's  life,  and 
of  shutting  myself  up  with  books  for  my  own  personal 
education. 

Even  with  all  this  explanation  I  am  afraid  you  will 
think  my  life  just  now  is,  in  truth,  a  "gadding"  one; 
but  we  do  find  so  much  to  think  about  in  our  visits  to 
the  interesting  places  here  that  I  must  write  you 
about  them.  For  example,  we  had  a  delightful  day  in 
the  Egyptian  Room  at  the  beautiful  Art  Museum.  I 
told  you  that  I  had  inspired  Miss  Fenton  with  a  de 
sire  to  go  there  with  me  some  day  ;  and  I  find  that 
she  is  deeply  interested  in  Egyptian  things.  She 
heard  all  of  Miss  Edwards's  lectures  about  Egypt,  and 
reads  everything  she  can  get  hold  of  on  the  subject  of 
its  antiquities.  This  is  all  delightful  to  me,  although 
I  am  very  much  behind  her  in  knowledge  of  Egypt. 
We  had  such  a  delightful  morning  together  that  she  is 
very  excited  about  it  all  and  is  really  beginning  to 
plan  for  a  winter,  when  she  "  will  take  me  up  the 
Nile  with  her!"  Do  not  be  frightened;  for  I  am 
sure  I  am  not  yet  done  with  Boston  and  its  present 
and  its  past. 

I  took  to  Miss  Fenton  the  catalogue  of  the  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts,  and  after  looking  at  it,  she  immediately 
decided  what  she  wanted  to  do.  It  is  really  a  bit  of 
education  to  be  with  her  in  this  way.  For  she  not 
only  knew,  but  she  could  explain  to  me  what  we  had 
better  do  and  why  it  was  a  good  thing  to  do  it.  She 
pointed  out  to  me  that  we  should  get  a  real  bit  of  his 
tory  if  we  went  directly  to  the  Egyptian  Room,  con 
taining  the  Egyptian  casts.  This  would  give  us  the 
connected  history  of  Egyptian  portraiture.  The  cata- 


236  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

logue  shows  admirably  how  thoroughly  Egyptian  this 
study  of  portraiture  is,  and  how  important  it  is  to  un 
derstand  it.  The  Egyptian  was  not  satisfied  with 
embalming  his  body,  which  might  be  easily  destroyed ; 
he  had  buried  with  him  a  statue  of  wood  or  stone, 
evidently  a  portrait  of  himself.  In  this  way  are  pre 
served  these  lifelike  representations. 

Just  think  of  going  into  this  room  to  find  arranged 
in  order  a  series  of  casts  of  their  statues  and  portraits, 
with  photographs  of  those  that  could  not  be  repro 
duced  !  Here  was  the  statue  of  King  Chephren,  who 
lived  about  3660  B.  c. ;  and  yet,  only  the  other  day,  I 
was  filled  with  wonder  at  the  portraits  of  men  of 
scarcely  two  hundred  years  ago.  Here  he  stands  in 
full  vigor,  with  head  erect,  and  by  his  side  another 
king,  Hosi.  The  face  in  all  these  portraits  is  given  in 
profile,  the  eye  in  full  front ;  the  chest  and  shoulders 
are  in  front  view,  while  the  legs  and  feet  are  in 
profile ;  for  this  is  the  Egyptian  fashion.  Hosi,  too, 
lived  between  4000  and  3500  B.  c.  And  then  come 
reliefs  from  the  tomb  of  Ti.  He  was  an  Egyptian 
gentleman.  I  remember  the  interesting  account  that 
Miss  Edwards  gives  of  him  in  her  book  of  Nile 
travels.  Here  are  pictures  of  farm  life,  even  of 
milking  the  cows,  with  the  calves  tied  to  tufts  of 
grass,  all  reminding  me  of  the  homely  scenes  I  wrote 
you  of,  that  we  saw  at  the  theatre,  on  the  stage,  in 
the  representation  of  "  The  Old  Homestead."  Old 
and  new  scenes,  so  far  apart  in  time,  yet  so  alike  ! 
Here  is  the  driving  home  of  the  cattle,  with  the  ante 
lopes,  asses,  storks,  and  geese  drawn  like  life,  the 
herdsman  bearing  the  calf  on  his  shoulders.  I  think 
I  must  send  you  the  catalogue  itself ;  for  it  gives  such 
an  interesting  description  and  explanation  of  it  all. 

And  you  will  see  how  this  valuable  record  is  kept 
up  chronologically;  for  next  we  came  farther  down 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  237 

to  2430  B.  c.  to  a  funeral  stele,  representing  a  long 
funeral  procession.  It  records  the  name  of  the  de 
ceased,  with  a  prayer  to  some  god  that  he  would 
supply  provisions  and  all  things  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  Ka,  or  soul,  of  the  dead,  —  his  spirit,  for 
which  he  is  so  anxious  always  to  provide.  But  I 
cannot  give  you  a  list  of  the  busts  and  statues.  Miss 
Fenton  is  intensely  interested  in  all  that  explains  the 
religion  of  the  Egyptians,  and  she  likes  to  study  up 
everything  that  tells  of  this  wonderful  care  that 
every  Egyptian  showed  in  providing  for  the  suste 
nance  of  this  Ka,  or  spirit. 

But  I  must  speak  of  a  row  of  queens  who  are 
shown  by  their  busts ;  among  them  the  queen  Taia, 
wife  of  Amenophis  III.,  who  was  a  Syrian  princess, 
and  was  painted  with  light  hair  and  blue  eyes.  If  I 
was  thrilled,  as  I  told  you,  by  seeing  actually  the 
picture  of  Anne  Black,  who  lived  as  lately  as  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  you  can  imagine  how  I 
felt  in  looking  at  the  portrait  of  a  queen  who  lived 
over  three  thousand  years  ago !  She  was  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  monarchs  who  sat  upon  the  Egyptian 
throne.  Women  had  great  power  in  Egypt ;  and 
Miss  Fenton  told  me  how,  in  one  of  her  lectures, 
Miss  Edwards  read  some  documents  to  show  that,  at 
one  period  in  the  earliest  times,  when  a  woman  was 
married  the  property  was  settled  upon  her,  and  out  of 
it  she  fixed  a  pension  to  be  granted  to  her  husband 
during  his  life.  This  shows  that  a  woman's  house 
keeping  talent  was  recognized  then  in  its  widest 
sense. 

We  stopped  a  long  time  to  study  the  long  relief 
that  shows  the  wars  of  King  Seti,  about  1350  B.  c. 
These  are  found  on  the  walls  of  Karnak.  The  figure 
of  the  king  is  distinguished  by  his  great  size,  far 
above  the  other  men  or  his  enemies  ;  the  artist  has 


238  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

also  elongated  the  bodies  and  legs  of  the  horses  as  well 
as  of  the  human  figures.  After  this  comes  the  bust  of 
the  great  King  Barneses,  the  famous  conqueror,  whose 
portraits  appear  on  monuments  in  every  part  of 
Egypt ;  and  he  is  the  hero  of  the  great  figure,  I  re 
member,  of  which  Miss  Edwards  gives  such  an  inter 
esting  account  in  her  book  of  Nile  travels.  Then  we 
passed  on  to  later  dates,  666  or  358  B.  c.,  that  seem 
quite  modern  in  comparison  with  those  older  ones  till 
we  remember  the  Old  State  House  and  our  respect  for 
these  younger  dates  of  Boston ;  and  then  one  begins 
to  touch  Greek  art  and  "Roman  emperors,  and  there 
is  a  whole  history  between.  The  way  is  to  read  Miss 
Edwards's  Nile  travels  before  going  to  this  room,  and 
then  to  take  it  up  afterwards  and  to  study  the  cata 
logue  carefully  while  examining  the  portraits,  not 
overlooking  the  photographs,  which  give  copies  of  the 
very  earliest  figures.  And  after  all  this  study  we  can 
comprehend  a  little  the  list  of  the  kings  that  Miss 
Edwards  gives  at  the  end  of  her  book ;  so  that,  with 
just  this  study  of  these  portraits,  one  can  begin  to 
understand  something  of  Egyptian  history.  For  this 
is  just  the  beginning,  Miss  Fenton  and  I  have  agreed. 
She  has  more  leisure  to  give  to  this  work  than  Anna 
has,  so  I  am  charmed  at  the  idea  of  having  her  as  a 
companion  some  day  again. 

To  all  of  which  I  must  add  an  interesting  episode. 
Our  old  housekeeper  here  has  lately  been  training  a 
Swedish  girl  as  chambermaid,  and  I  have  been  inter 
ested  in  talking  with  Lina,  who  understands  English 
enough  to  tell  me  more  or  less  of  her  history.  But 
one  day  Hetty  came  into  my  room  much  disturbed. 
She  said  that  Lina  insisted  upon  it  she  must  go  over 
to  East  Boston  to  meet  her  brother  and  sister,  who 
were  to  arrive  in  the  English  steamer.  Hetty  was 
sure  that  Lina  could  never  find  her  way  there  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  239 

back,  and  she  was  sure  Rebecca,  her  daughter,  could 
not  give  the  time  to  go  over  with  her,  because  her 
dressmaking  work  was  just  coming  in.  She  wished  I 
would  speak  to  Lina  and  tell  her  it  would  be  just  as 
well  to  wait  till  they  landed,  and  that  it  was  their 
business  to  hunt  up  Lina,  and  not  Lina's  business  to 
be  losing  herself  in  the  Boston  streets.  So  what  I 
did,  when  Lina  came  to  me,  was  to  tell  her  I  would 
go  over  to  East  Boston  with  her  and  take  her  to  the 
"  Pavonia ; "  for  that  was  the  name  of  the  steamer. 
Hetty  was  doubtful  about  the  whole  matter,  and 
evidently  thought  I  was  as  likely  to  lose  my  way  as 
Lina,  but  she  agreed  that  I  had  a  tongue  in  my  head 
which  might  be  more  easily  understood  than  Lina's. 
So  we  started  off. 

It  was  one  of  the  fine  days  we  have  been  having, 
and  I  took  Lina  across  in  an  East  Boston  car,  and  we 
had  a  pleasant  excursion.  I  am  always  delighted  at 
an  excuse  to  cross  in  one  of  the  ferry-boats  ;  and  the 
tongue  in  my  head  helped  me  to  find  my  way  and  to 
take  the  right  direction  to  get  to  our  steamer.  It  was 
amusing,  however,  that  it  was  one  of  Lina's  Swedish 
friends  who  helped  us  at  the  last,  by  showing  us 
where  to  go,  so  that  we  should  not  hunt  up  oxir 
steerage  friends  among  the  first-class  passengers. 
Then  I  had  a  surprise  in  suddenly  meeting  in  the 
crowd  our  friend,  Harry  Merton.  His  friends  were 
among  the  first-class  passengers ;  but  there  was  a 
great  crowd,  nearly  a  thousand  passengers,  and  he 
was  looking  everywhere  for  his  friends,  while  I  was 
trying  to  induce  my  happy  Lina  to  bring  along  her 
brother  and  sister  and  come  away  from  the  pier. 
They  were  so  happy  at  meeting  that  I  do  believe  they 
would  have  stayed  there  all  day.  Lina,  however,  has 
a  clear  head,  and  she  had  made  her  plans  as  to  where 
they  were  to  go  to  meet  other  friends.  So  after  Mr. 


240  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Merton  learned  that  his  people  had  not  arrived  after 
all,  we  made  our  way  together,  reaching  the  ferry 
boat,  where  the  Swedish  party  huddled  together  jab 
bering  in  their  delight,  and  Mr.  Merton  escorted  me 
home. 

I  have  written  home  the  account  of  our  day  in 
Worcester.  Anna  was  invited  to  the  Commencement 
at  Clark  University  there,  and  I  went  with  her. 
Much  to  our  surprise,  just  as  we  were  leaving  the 
station,  Mr.  Merton  appeared,  also  bound  for  Worces 
ter  and  the  University;  for  I  had  told  him  of  our 
plan  of  going.  But  I  can't  repeat  the  whole  story. 
You  must  only  imagine  it  to  have  been  a  delightful 
day. 

It  was  on  the  beautiful  October  Saturday  of  last 
week  that  we  went  to  Milton,  Miss  Fenton  and  I 
taking  the  cars  there  and  afterwards  a  carriage  -to 
the  Blue  Hills,  through  lovely  lanes  still  luxuriant 
and  green.  Then  up  and  up,  till  we  finally  climbed  to 
the  top  of  the  Blue  Hills,  where  there  is  an  observa 
tory,  and  where  the  view  is  really  like  a  mountain 
view.  vHere  again  was  the  glorious  harbor  spread 
before  us,  and  Boston  and  its  suburbs  below,  far 
away.  But  I  was  much  surprised  at  the  country 
view  on  the  other  side,  and  to  see  how  much  is  left  of 
really  forest  land  and  uninhabited  region,  —  great 
cultivated  fields  and  wide  spaces  still  not  yet  settled 
upon.  It  was  as  wonderful  and  exciting  as  is  the 
view  of  the  great  city,  and  it  gives  one  a  certain  re 
pose  to  think  that  beyond  all  the  seething  turmoil  of 
those  narrow  streets  there  is  still  this  wide  extent  of 
field  and  country  so  near  and  not  yet  crowded.  I  am 
told  that  these  Blue  Hills  were  called  by  the  Indians 
"  Massachusetts,"  meaning  The  Great  Mountains,  and 
that  this  was  the  origin  of  the  name  of  the  State. 

This  week  we  are  busy  visiting,  when  we  find  time, 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  241 

the  "Health  Food  Show"  at  Mechanics  Hall,  the 
large  building  devoted  to  such  exhibitions.  I  am 
again  reminded  of  my  country  home,  for  here  can  be 
seen  a  herd  of  cattle.  They  are  Holstein-Frisian 
cattle.  Then  you  must  not  be  surprised  if  you  hear 
that  Anna  and  I  introduce  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson's 
"Aladdin's  oven"  into  our  household  plans;  and  we 
are  getting  many  ideas  about  scientific  cooking.  But 
I  have  no  doubt  that  you  are  deciding  with  Harry 
Merton  that  we  are  doing  too  many  things.  I  have 
not  told  you,  either,  how  I  am  going  to  hear  Mr. 
Herford  preach  every  Sunday ;  for,  alas  !  Arlington 
Street  Church  is  to  lose  him  very  soon,  and  he  will  be 
sorely  missed. 

From  yours, 

LUCY. 


16 


242  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  NINETEENTH. 

XXII. 

HAKRY  TO  HIS   MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  Oct.  9,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  I  am  well  aware  that  Nahum 
regards  our  life  here  as  very  dull,  and  that  when  he 
runs  away  from  home,  with  a  bundle  on  a  stick  over 
his  shoulder,  we  must  look  for  him  at  Burlington  or 
St.  John,  and  not  in  the  effete  civilization  of  this  pro 
vincial  village.  Now,  as  one  of  my  special  desires  is 
that  he  shall  come  down  to  the  office  into  a  capital 
place,  which  I  will  have  ready  for  him  when  he  can 
write  a  decent  French  letter  to  our  correspondents  in 
the  island  of  Madagascar,  I  do  want  to  present  Boston 
in  its  most  attractive  lights.  So  I  hope  you  will  not 
consider  this  letter  too  frivolous. 

We  have  a  great  many  correspondents  among  the 
retail  grocers.  If  you  will  think  of  it,  although  clothes 
pins  do  not  come  under  the  ordinary  definition  which 
you  or  I  would  apply  to  the  word  "  groceries,"  they 
are  sold  by  the  gross,  or  by  the  "  groce,"  as  Dr.  John 
son  would  have  spelled  it.  And,  not  to  be  too  learned, 
if  you  sent  Nahum  down  to  the  village,  before  break 
fast  Monday  morning,  for  a  couple  of  dozen  new 
clothes-pins,  he  would  go  to  old  Mr.  Pepper's  store. 
So  it  is  that  the  exhibition  of  food  products  here, 
which  has  been  set  on  foot  by  the  grocers  of  Boston, 
brings  lots  and  lots  of  our  customers  down  to  town 
from  all  New  England.  I  have  very  little  to  do  with 
the  buying  and  selling,  you  know.  But  I  can  see  that 
the  chief  and  Mr.  Outlake  and  all  the  other  gentlemen 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  243 

are  pleased,  and  that  the  orders  every  day  are  very, 
very  large. 

Yesterday  a  nice  old  gentleman  from  Aroostook 
County  came  in  and  had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Outlake 
about  "  Jim  "  Elaine  and  "  Tom  "  Reed  and  I  do  not 
know  what  else.  When  he  went  away  he  said  he  was 
going  to  the  Food  Exhibition,  which  we,  of  course, 
knew  perfectly  well  before.  But  he  had  not  told  us 
that  his  wife  was  with  him  and  waiting  for  him  at  the 
American  House.  It  was  clear  he  could  never  find  her 
and  then  find  the  exhibition  without  help.  So  I  was 
detailed  to  escort  them,  and  to  inquire  at  the  same 
time  if  it  was  too  late  for  us  to  make  an  exhibit  of 
clothes-pins.  We  have  two  very  handsome  cases  in 
which  the  clothes-pins  are  arranged  in  imitation  of 
plate  armor,  and  I  believe  most  of  the  boys  in  the 
office  think  that  Ivanhoe  and  Richard  were  really 
dressed  in  clothes-pins  when  they  went  to  tournaments. 
These  cases  are  on  purpose  for  exhibitions,  and  it  is 
with  them  that  we  get  our  gold  medals  and  crosses  of 
different  legions.  But  our  Mr.  Snale,  who  has  charge 
of  them,  is  an  Englishman  and  rather  slow.  He  did 
not  "  catch  on  "  in  time  to  the  idea  that  clothes-pins, 
because  they  are  groceries,  belong  in  a  food  exhibition ; 
so  our  knights  in  armor  are  still  at  the  County  Show 
in  Knox  County,  where  they  do  not  do  us  as  much 
good  as  they  would  here. 

Well,  we  found  up  the  excellent  Mrs.  Fosdick,  who 
is  perfectly  lovely.  She  is  a  sort  of  cross  between 
Miss  Tryphena  Dexter  and  our  dear  grandmother,  and 
looks  like  your  picture  of  Miss  Hannah  More.  I 
got  them  both  safely  to  the  exhibition,  bought  their 
tickets,  and  got  them  by  the  turnstile.  Then,  I  am 
ashamed  to  say,  I  waited  for  Miss  Brand  and  some 
other  ladies  to  pass,  then  went  in  myself,  and,  dear 
Mother,  you  will  laugh  at  me,  I  had  lost  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


244  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Fosdick!  And  I  have  never  seen  hide  nor  hair  of 
them  from  that  moment  to  this.  Now  I  was  to  take 
care  of  them  in  the  intervals  of  arranging  for  our  ex 
hibit;  so  this  is  an  awful  disgrace  to  me,  and  you  must 
never  mention  it. 

Well,  while  I  was  looking  for  them,  naturally  I  saw 
a  good  deal  of  the  show.  And  I  ran  against  twenty  of 
our  customers  and  placed  I  do  not  know  how  many 
hundred  "  groce "  of  pins ;  so  that  I  guess  there  was 
no  harm  that  the  Fosdicks  saw  the  show  for  them 
selves.  They  and  I  were  such  early  birds  that  most 
of  the  things  were  not  ready  when  we  arrived. 

On  this  account  I  went  downstairs  first  to  look  at 
the  Holstein  cattle.  The  first  thing  I  came  across 
down  there  was  a  great  English  shire  horse,  with  a 
neck  about  twice  as  big  as  he  needed.  As  Aunt 
Agatha  used  to  say  about  me,  he  must  have  an 
enormous  "  swaller."  The  cattle  did  not  look  very 
remarkable ;  but  they  were,  all  the  same.  The  boy  who 
kept  them  said  that  one  of  his  cows,  like  those  here, 
had  given  fifty-six  to  fifty-eight  quarts  of  milk  a  day, 
which  seems  enough  to  feed  a  small  army.  When  I 
asked  about  the  quality  of  the  milk,  he  said  that  this 
same  cow  had  made  thirty-nine  pounds  of  butter  in 
a  week.  To  say  that  the  cow  "  made "  the  butter 
seemed  to  me  somewhat  exaggerated. 

When  I  got  back  in  the  hall  things  were  well 
started.  What  first  attracted  my  attention  was  a 
Smith  Premier  Typewriter.  I  do  not  know  whether 
this  comes  in  under  the  "  Food "  or  the  "  Health " 
part  of  the  exhibition.  I  told  the  man  who  had 
charge  of  it  that  I  was  interested  in  typewriting,  and 
he  explained  the  whole  thing.  The  one  he  showed 
me  had  a  key-board  like  the  Eemington ;  but  they 
make  them  with  key-boards  like  the  caligraph.  The 
work  it  did  and  the  action  of  the  machine  seemed  to 
me  excellent. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  245 

Cobb,  Bates,  and  Yerxa  had  the  whole  end  of  one  of 
the  large  halls  filled  with  their  groceries.  There  was 
some  Pettijohn's  Breakfast  Food  there,  with  a 
courteous  young  lady  to  serve  it  to  all  comers.  It  was 
very  nice,  and  I  thanked  her  for  helping  me  so 
generously.  She  said  something  about  being  able  to 
distinguish  possible  purchasers  and  dealing  gener 
ously  by  them.  I  did  n't  buy  any,  although  it  was 
only  six  cents  a  pound.  She  said  that  it  would  make 
thin  people  "  fleshy  "  in  a  short  time  ;  whereupon  I 
asked  its  effect  on  "  fleshy  "  people,  and  she  said  that 
it  strengthened  the  muscular  tissues. 

There  was  a  man  who  had  a  self- calculating  set  of 
scales  on  exhibition.  I  asked  him  to  show  it  to  me ; 
but  he  .answered  by  asking  me  if  I  had  any  interest  in 
the  grocery  business.  I  told  him  that  I  had  not  just 
at  present  ;  but  that  I  might  at  some  future  period. 
He  said  that  he  supposed  that,  at  any  rate,  I  wanted 
to  see  everything  new,  and  then  he  showed  me  the 
scales,  which  so  far  as  I  could  see,  was,  as  he  said, 
really  a  machine  with  brains. 

I  made  a  rule  of  eating  and  drinking  everything  that 
was  free,  and  thus  managed  to  take  in  a  good  deal  of 
varied  nutriment.  I  tried  Huyler's  cocoa,  which,  I 
was  informed,  came  straight  from  the  cocoa  bean. 
There  were  some  cocoa  beans  there,  but  no  way  of 
telling  whether  the  prepared  cocoa  came  right  from 
them  or  not.  On  the  whole,  the  effect  of  the  gen 
erosity  of  the  people  who  gave  away  their  food  was 
that  you  regarded  exhibitors  as  stingy  who  did  not 
give  anything  away.  S.  S.  Pierce,  for  example,  had  a 
nice-looking  department ;  but  as  he  had  no  gifts  to 
offer,  I  did  not  dally  long  about  his  stand.  On  every 
hand  there  were  buckwheat  cakes  being  made  and 
distributed  to  any  one  that  wanted  them.  They  were 
all  good,  so  that  I  do  not  wish  to  discriminate  as  to 


246  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

which  were  the  best.  They  were  served  with  syrup  at 
the  Fleischmann's  Yeast  counter.  There  was  a  man 
there  cooking  some  peculiar  style  of  bread.  I  asked 
him  what  it  was,  and  he  replied  that  it  was  something 
to  eat. 

Upstairs  in  the  Art  Gallery  was  Mr.  Atkinson's 
Aladdin  Cooker  on  exhibition.  I  was  able  to  state  to 
those  who  were  looking  at  the  cooker  that  things 
cooked  in  it  tasted  very  well ;  for  I  have  had  several 
opportunities  of  trying  them.  There  was  a  large 
department,  near  the  cooker,  reserved  for  Van 
Houten's  cocoa.  A  polite  young  woman  invited  me 
to  partake,  but  I  was  obliged  to  pass  on,  because 
I  thought  my  stomach  could  not  stand  too  great  a 
variety. 

Downstairs  they  had  some  "  health  "  coffee  on  trial. 
This  makes  a  fairly  good  drink,  but  it  seems  to  me 
that  it  rather  fails  of  its  purpose.  For  if  people  are  in 
the  habit  of  drinking  too  much  real  coffee,  they 
probably  are  very  fond  of  its  flavor  and  would  not  be 
satisfied  with  something  that  tastes  entirely  different. 
Thus  the  only  ones  who  could  be  brought  to  drink 
"  health "  coffee  would  be  those  who  never  cared 
especially  for  Mocha  and  Java. 

Among  the  favorite  things  to  exhibit  were  flavoring 
extracts.  These  I  did  not  sample.  A  number  of  other 
exhibits  seemed  to  be  far  removed  from  "  Food  and 
Health."  Thus  the  Kroeger  piano  could  hardly  be 
eaten  or  contribute  to  a  man's  physical  welfare. 
Carriages  could,  I  suppose,  carry  a  patient  to  the 
White  Mountains  for  his  health,  while  market  wagons 
could  bring  him  food. 

Bovinine  was  advertised  as  having  been  General 
Grant's  food  for  three  months.  They  might  have 
added,  "  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  died."  From 
the  top  of  one  of  the  great  halls  was  suspended  a  trade 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  247 

mark  of  Welcome  Soap,  one  of  those  pictures  of  a  pair 
of  hands  clasping  each  other,  you  know.  Every  one 
who  desired  was  given  a  guess  as  to  how  far  apart 
were  two  red  crosses,  one  on  each  of  the  two  coat 
sleeves.  The  distance  was  obviously  somewhere 
between  five  and  ten  feet.  I  judged  a  good  deal  from 
the  windows  behind  the  picture,  and  guessed  seven 
feet,  three  and  three-eighths  inches.  The  polite  man 
who  received  the  guesses  then  gave  me  another  try, 
and  I  said  seven  feet,  ten  inches.  The  smallest 
estimate  made  was  by  a  lady,  who  modestly  pro 
nounced  the  crosses  eleven  inches  apart.  The  prize 
for  the  best  guess  is  a  silver  tea-service.  I  also  have 
a  confused  remembrance  of  a  gold  watch  and  some 
other  things,  second  prizes,  I  suppose.  I  expect  to 
get  something  splendid.  I  hope  you  don't  look  on  it 
as  gambling. 

There  was  a  man  selling  microscopes,  who  let 
people  look  at  a  drop  of  water  and  other  small  things. 
It  was  very  unpleasant  to  see  the  water,  for  there 
were  a  number  of  disagreeable-looking  snakes  disport 
ing  in  it.  To  afford  me  a  pleasant  change,  he  gave  me 
an  opportunity  to  see  the  dust  from  a  cheese.  This 
was  an  awful  sight.  The  dust  was  filled  with 
creatures  abounding  in  legs,  who  wandered  about  in  an 
aimless  way  and  filled  me  with  horror.  If  we  have 
got  to  eat  animals  involuntarily,  I  do  wish  we  could 
have  more  prepossessing  ones. 

The  two  great  halls  are  filled  with  exhibits,  and  even 
the  upstairs  part  is  put  in  requisition.  When  you  go 
out  you  are  so  confused  that  you  can  scarcely  re 
member  a  thing  that  you  have  seen ;  but  afterwards 
things  keep  occurring  to  you.  I  wound  up  by  going  to 
the  restaurant,  which  was  fairly  good.  Old  Miss 
.Tryphena,  whom  I  met  prowling  round,  complained 
that  it  was  too  expensive,  and  that  as  to  the  things 


248  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

that  were  given  away,  there  was  too  much  to  drink 
and  too  little  to  eat,  the  only  thing  that  she  had  had 
to  eat  being  "malted"  milk,  and  I  don't  exactly 
see  how  she  managed  to  eat  that.  At  the  restaurant 
I  had  some  sausages  and  mashed  potatoes,  both  of 
which  proved  excellent. 

On  the  way  home  I  had  a  chance  to  see  some  paving 
being  done  on  West  Newton  Street  with  this  kind  of 
artificial  stone  which  they  use  nowadays.  It  is  fine  to 
see  how  they  level  off  the  earth  before  they  begin  to 
pave.  They  have  two  wooden  frames  running  across 
the  street;  and  they  take  a  long  sort  of  board  and 
draw  it  over  these  frames,  which  are  about  ten  feet 
apart,  .thus  making  the  earth  between  them  beautifully 
rounded,  like  the  frames  themselves.  It  seems  to  me 
as  if  they  ought  to  have  some  of  the  stone  made  just 
half  the  common  size  at  the  quarries.  As  it  is,  when 
they  want  half-pieces,  as  they  frequently  do,  they 
have  to  cut  a  big  one  in  two,  which  is  no  end  of 
bother. 

October  12. 

You  may  skip  all  this.  It  is  specially  for  Nahum's 
eye,  because  he  is  so  curious  about  all  quarry  work. 
If  he  had  been  here  last  Wednesday  night  I  should 
have  taken  him  with  me  to  see  "  The  County  Fair." 
I  wonder  if  the  fame  of  Mr.  Neil  Burgess  and  "  The 
County  Fair"  has  gone  as  far  as  Atherton.  I  observe 
the  "  swell "  gentlemen  in  the  counting-room  here 
turn  up  their  noses  at  it  —  and  then  go,  on  the  sly,  to 
see  it,  just  as  they  go  to  the  circus  because  the 
children  want  to  go.  I  went  last  Wednesday  night 
although  it  rained  guns  ;  indeed,  I  thought  I  should 
have  a  better  show  on  a  rainy  evening,  for,  of  course, 
I  went  on  a  "  statidee."  The  play  is  going  to  run  for 
a  whole  year ;  just  think  how  tiresome  that  must 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

make  it  for  the  actors.  Other  people  certainly 
have  n't  got  tired  of  it  yet,  for  in  spite  of  the  weather, 
every  available  seat  was  taken,  and  I  had  to  stand  up 
all  through  the  evening. 

I  reached  the  theatre  at  just  about  the  right  time, 
so  that  I  could  stand  up  behind  the  central  back  seats 
and  lean  on  the  kind  of  elbow-rest  that  seems  made 
for  the  purpose.  I  suppose  I  looked  like  one  of 
Raphael's  cherubs.  Lots  of  people  were  coming  in, 
and,  among  others,  a  man  at  my  right  pointed  out 
Police  Commissioner  Osborne.  I  looked  as  quickly  as 
I  could,  but  could  only  see  the  back  of  a  respectable- 
looking  gentleman  in  a  silk  hat.  I  stared  at  every 
one  in  the  boxes,  and  tried  to  recognize  the  bonnets 
of  the  ladies  who  sat  in  front  of  me,  but  bonnets  and 
hair  are  not  very  characteristic.  I  did  not  see  a 
single  person  in  the  audience  that  I  knew.  I  have 
heard  that  most  of  those  who  come  to  this  play  are 
country  people,  like  myself.  Strangely  enough  we 
seem  to  like  to  see  our  own  life  represented  on 
the  stage.  After  the  band  had  given  us  a  variegated 
edition  of  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  the  curtain 
went  up. 

The  principal  character  in  the  play  is  a  New  Eng 
land  spinster,  called  Miss  Abby,  whose  home  is  at 
Rock  Bottom  Farm.  Mr.  Neil  Burgess  acts  this  part, 
and  he  is  very  funny,  although  the  other  actors 
are  nothing  remarkable.  What  brings  down  the 
house  in  the  first  act  is  where  every  one  has  gone 
to  bed  except  Miss  Abby,  and  just  before  she  retires 
she  goes  to  the  door  at  the  back  of  the  stage,  with  a 
candle,  opens  it  and  calls  out,  "  Kitty,  kitty,  kitty." 
Every  one  laxighs,  because,  I  suppose,  every  one  has 
seen  some  old  lady  do  the  same  thing.  Certainly  you 
and  I  have. 

Miss  Abbij,  though  no  longer  young,  has  two  wooers, 


250  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

one  nice  and  one  horrid,  as  the  children  say.  The  nice 
one  has  been  "  courtin' "  her  for  fourteen  years,  but 
has  never  screwed  up  his  courage  to  the  point  of  ask 
ing  her  to  be  his,  though  she  is  always  ready  to  say 
yes,  when  he  does.  As  for  the  villain,  when  he  finds 
he  has  no  chance,  he  warns  her  that  he  is  going  to 
foreclose  a  mortgage  of  $1,600  on  her  farm.  The 
mortgage  comes  due  on  the  day  of  the  County  Fair, 
with  ten  more  days  of  grace.  Now  Miss  Abby  has 
taken  in  a  homeless  young  fellow  called  Tim,  who 
can't  do  much  but  ride  on  horseback.  He  makes  up 
his  mind  that  her  horse,  Cold  Molasses,  is  the  fast 
est  in  the  country  round,  and  finding  out  that  the  run 
ning  race  at  the  County  Fair  is  for  a  prize  of  $2,000, 
he  forms  his  own  schemes  for  paying  off  the  mort 
gage.  He  manages  to  practise  up  the  horse  on  the 
sly ;  for  Miss  Abby  has  no  idea  of  what  is  going  on. 

At  the  end  of  the  third  act  Miss  Abby  is  in  the  barn, 
very  disconsolate.  She  feels  that  every  one  has  gone 
back  on  her,  even  Otis  Tucker,  the  man  who  has  been 
"  courtin' "  her  for  fourteen  years.  She  sits  down  in 
her  rocking-chair,  close  to  where  the  horse's  head  is 
sticking  out  of  the  stall.  "No  one  cares  for  me  at 
all,"  says  Miss  Abby,  "  not  one."  And  then  the  horse 
puts  out  his  great  head  and  licks  her  face,  while  the 
curtain  goes  down.  It  is  ludicrous  and  pathetic  at  the 
same  time. 

The  last  act  represents  the  Fair.  It  begins  with 
one  of  those  shallow  scenes  which  they  have  when 
something  interesting  is  going  on  behind.  Miss  Abby 
appears  and  is  astonished  to  see  Tim  in  his  jockey 
clothes,  leading  Cold  Molasses.  Tim  is  dressed  up 
grandly  in  a  green  shirt  and  white  trousers,  with  top 
boots.  But  even  now  Miss  Abby  does  n't  know  what 
is  going  to  happen.  Lots  of  people  are  going  to  and 
fro,  when  suddenly  there  is  a  shout  and  a  scurry,  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  251 

every  one  runs  off  the  stage.  Then  the  back  scene 
rolls  away,  and  through  a  kind  of  veil  you  can  see  five 
horses  with  jockeys  on  them,  apparently  galloping  at 
full  speed.  Behind  them  is  one  of  those  fences  that 
they  have  around  race  courses,  and  that  is  made  to 
move  like  lightning  the  other  way  from  the  way  the 
horses  are  going.  The  illusion  is  complete ;  but  oh, 
horrors !  Tim  is  behind  them  all.  Two  horses  are 
bunched  for  first  place ;  two  more  behind ;  and  Tim 
and  Cold  Molasses  in  the  rear.  But  in  a  moment  you 
can  see  Cold  Molasses  begin  to  crawl  up.  Nearer  and 
nearer  he  comes  and  finally  passes  the  two  horses  next 
him.  Every  one  was  shouting  like  mad,  with  that  long 
"  Hey-ey-ey  !  "  that  you  always  hear  at  a  race.  I  was 
screaming  "  Cold  Molasses  ! "  at  the  top  of  my  lungs. 
Tim  began  to  beat  his  horse  with  a  vengeance,  and  the 
noble  animal  responded,  so  that  he  came  slowly,  slowly, 
up  with  the  leaders ;  got  even  with  them ;  his  head 
came  out  beyond  them;  and  then — all  was  dark.  The 
yelling  and  excitement  of  the  audience  beggars  descrip 
tion.  I  never  heard  such  a  noise  at  a  play. 

Then  we  saw  the  County  Fair  scene  again.  When 
it  was  told  Miss  Abby  that  her  horse  and  Tim  had  won 
her  $2,000  you  can  imagine  how  delighted  she  was. 
She  and  Otis  decided  to  get  married  immediately;  but 
when  he  brought  the  marriage  certificate,  she  tore  it 
up,  thinking  it  was  one  of  the  programmes  of  the  fair. 
Poor  Otis  ran  to  get  another ;  but  this  time,  as  he  was 
coming  back,  holding  it  in  his  outstretched  hand,  Cold 
Molasses,  who  had  come  in  with  Tim  on  his  back, 
seized  it  and  ate  it  up ;  at  least  I  think  he  was  meant 
to,  but  that  night  he  dropped  it  after  he  had  chewed 
it  for  a  while.  Then  the  curtain  went  down  and  every 
one  went  away. 

Coming  home,  the  electrics  were  crowded,  and  I  was 
almost  pushed  backwards  over  the  edge  of  the  plat- 


252  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

form.  Every  one  was  good-natured,  except  a  very  fat 
man,  who  exclaimed  that  he  had  a  right  to  get  on  and 
off  as  much  as  he  wanted  to,  because  the  rest  of  us 
expressed  bur  agony  while  he  pressed  by  us.  We  all 
uttered  ribald  shouts  at  him,  which  attained  their  pur 
pose  in  enraging  him ;  but  which,  I  fear,  could  not  be 
ranked  as  the  most  refined  style  of  wit.  And  so,  with 
a  good  deal  of  rain  and  some  swearing  and  a  great  deal 
of  good  temper,  we  all  got  home  at  last.  But  I  tell 
you  that  race  was  perfectly  fine. 

If  I  had  not  spent  so  much  time  upon  Nahum's 
amusement  I  should  have  been  able  to  tell  you  about 
my  pleasant  visit  to  Peacedale  last  week.  There  was 
a  great  festival  there  in  honor  of  the  dedication  of  a 
memorial  hall  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Hazard,  who  died 
a  few  years  ago,  a  very  old  man.  He  was  connected 
with  the  creation  of  the  woollen  manufacture  in  this 
country,  and  the  works  at  Peacedale  are  very  remark 
able.  The  Hazard  family  has  always  lived  there,  in 
the  midst  of  their  work  people, — as  somebody  said,  so 
that  the  whirr  of  the  machinery  could  be  heard  from 
the  parlor  windows.  And  the  whole  place  shows  the 
charm  of  the  common  interest  of  the  work  people, 
from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  the  establishment.  The 
present  Mr.  Hazards  have  now  built,  in  memory  of 
their  father,  a  beautiful  hall,  which  is  everything  that 
you  would  like  to  have  in  Atherton,  for  the  central 
comfort  and  convenience  of  the  village.  There  is  a 
great  hall  for  audiences,  a  capital  public-library  room, 
—  and,  what  is  more,  they  have  got  a  good  library  to 
put  in  it,  —  and  rooms  for  the  meetings  of  the  King's 
Daughters  and  other  societies  of  the  place. 

They  have  a  Choral  Association,  too,  and  I  wish  you 
might  have  one  in  Atherton.  It  is  made  up  actually 
of  five  or  six  hundred  of  the  young  people  of  the  town. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  253 

The  singing  is  really  magnificent.  We  do  not  get  any 
thing  better  here,  as  far  as  I  hear  it,  and  I  found  that 
the  connoisseurs  were  disposed  to  say  the  same  thing. 
If  you  ever  thought  of  it,  music  is  the  active  agency 
which  brings  together  a  lot  of  people  who  succeed  in 
quarrelling  about  everything  else.  For  instance,  in 
this  Choral  Association,  all  the  young  people  of  the 
town  can  meet  together,  no  matter  what  they  believe 
in,  no  matter  what  country  they  come  from,  no  matter 
whether  they  went  to  a  high  school  or  to  an  academy 
or  to  a  Friends'  school.  I  should  think  that  was  a 
good  deal  the  character  of  Rhode  Island,  where,  on 
account  of  their  extreme  independency  in  old  times, 
one  man  is  as  good  as  another,  and  people  seem  to 
meet  with  great  friendliness.  Any  way,  I  was  very 
glad  that  it  came  to  be  my  business  to  go  down  to 
Peacedale.  I  went  there,  not  to  "tout"  for  custom, 
which  is  what  I  generally  have  to  do  when  I  go  away 
from  Boston,  but  because  Mr.  Outlake  had  not  been 
well,  and  Mrs.  Outlake  was  afraid  to  have  him  go  alone. 
He  made  a  great  deal  of  fun  of  this,  and,  in  point  of 
fact,  he  no  more  needed  to  have  somebody  to  take  care 
of  him  than  I  did.  But  I  suppose,  if  he  had  had  a 
fit  in  the  cars  or  had  broken  his  neck  in  getting  off  the 
train,  I  should  have  had  to  telegraph  home  to  his  wife 
to  say  so.  Any  way,  I  got  out  of  the  thing  a  charm 
ing  expedition  and  was  out  of  the  office  for  a  day.  I 
believe  you  think  the  principal  business  of  the  office 
is  that  I  may  go  "  a-gadding "  and  have  good  times. 
And  I  am  sure  that  anybody  who  reads  these  letters 
would  suppose  it  was  for  that  end  that  the  Boston 
establishment  had  been  created. 

Tuesday,  Oct.  13. 

POSTSCRIPT.  You  will  be  amazed  when  I  tell  you 
that  this  is  written  in  Philadelphia.  You  are  not 
more  amazed  than  I  am.  It  happens  thus  :  — 


254  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Our  nice  Mr.  Outlake,  who  is  always  so  good  to  me, 
is  very  much  interested  in  the  plans  for  the  congress 
of  nations,  or  at  least  of  republics,  which  is  to  be  held 
next  year  or  the  next.  He  is,  like  a  good  many  of  the 
old  Abolitionists,  a  man  much  respected  in  the  com 
mittee  ;  and  he  determined,  rather  suddenly,  to  go  on 
to  a  preliminary  meeting  which  is  in  progress  here  to 
day.  Now,  he  has  been  troubled  for  some  time  past 
with  sudden  attacks  of  vertigo,  and  Mrs.  Outlake  — 
the  same  who  took  Miss  Fenton  to  the  high-story-call 
lions  —  would  gladly  have  come  with  him.  But  some 
thing  at  home  prevented  this.  So  she  surreptitiously 
asked  our  chief  if  I  might  not  be  spared,  to  be  in  Phil 
adelphia  at  the  same  time  with  Mr.  Outlake,  all  "  un 
beknownst  "  to  him,  and  so  to  speak,  to  keep  an  eye  on 
him.  Of  course,  I  was  only  too  glad  to  come,  and 
here  I  am.  He  was  much  surprised  when  he  saw  me 
at  the  Broad  Street  station,  eating  my  oysters  by  his 
side.  He  little  supposed  that  I  had  come  three  hun 
dred  and  more  miles  that  I  might  have  that  pleasure. 

I  told  him,  what  was  the  truth,  that  I  had  a  message 
to  our  agents,  Line  and  Eeel.  He  said  he  should  not 
be  able  to  see  them,  and  told  me  that  if  I  could  get  an 
hour,  I  had  better  come  round  to  the  Academy  of 
Music  and  hear  some  of  the  papers.  As  this  was  ex 
actly  what  I  had  been  sent  to  do,  I  consented,  of 
course;  and  so  I  have  been  behind  the  scenes  of  a 
theatre  for  the  first  time  in  my  life.  Do  you  not  re 
member,  in  "  Joe  "  Jefferson's  life,  how  good  a  time 
those  children  had  in  playing  in  the  daytime  behind 
the  scenes  ? 

The  meeting,  you  see,  of  all  sorts  of  governors  and 
secretaries  and  presidents  and  things  was  in  the  large 
green-room.  Is  it  not  exciting  to  be  in  a  green-room, 
and  have  hundreds  of  portraits  of  actors  and  actresses, 
some  horribly  faded  and  some  preternaturally  bright, 


THE   NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  255 

smiling  or  frowning  down  upon  the  governors  and 
secretaries,  from  Charlotte  Cushman  round  to  Ole 
Bull  and  Minnie  Hauek  ?  The  dons,  like  Mr.  Outlake 
and  the  committees,  sat  round  the  tables  and  in  the 
seats  provided.  But  the  attendant  loafers,  like  me, 
crowded  together  on  the  dark  stage,  which,  in  this 
theatre  at  least,  is  directly  accessible  from  the  green 
room.  We  could  see  and  hear  there.  Nahum  will  be 
glad  to  know  the  walls  of  a  green-room  are  really 
green. 

Mr.  Outlake  did  not  speak  himself,  but  a  great 
many  interesting  people  did.  Judge  Arnoux  interested 
me ;  he  is  a  New  York  lawyer.  There  was  a  very  in 
telligent  governor  there  from  Wyoming,  Governor 
Hoyt,  and  a  doctor  of  philosophy,  who  spoke  English 
with  as  little  accent  as  I,  but  who  is  a  native  China 
man.  A  black  man  offered  prayer,  and  a  Chippewa 
Indian  spoke,  so  we  had  four  races  represented.  In 
fact,  I  should  think  it  was  all  a  good  deal  like  one  of 
the  best  of  the  old  Anti-slavery  meetings  you  like  to 
tell  us  of.  Nobody  was  afraid  to  say  anything,  and 
everybody  had  some  special  fad  which  he  was  very 
much  in  earnest  about. 

As  for  Mr.  Outlake,  it  was  all  nonsense  my  taking 
care  of  him.  There  was  much  more  likelihood  of  his 
taking  care  of  me.  I  say  nothing  about  the  wonders 
of  the  city  itself,  because  I  remember  how  well  you 
know  it.  Love  to  all,  from  your  son 

HARRY. 


256  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTEE  TWENTIETH. 
XXIII. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  Oct.  21,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  have  been  making  such  inti 
mate  acquaintance  with  the  street  cars  lately  that  I 
feel  as  if  I  ought  to  turn  into  a  walking  guide-book 
and  make  my  information  useful  to  the  world.  It  may 
not  be  of  advantage  to  you  in  Colorado,  but  it  will 
show  you  how  I  pass  some  of  my  time. 

I  have  described  to  you  the  Miss  Dexter  whom  I 
have  visited  several  times,  and  who  used  to  be  a 
dependent  in  my  mother's  mother's  family  long  ago. 
She  is  a  thrifty  little  body,  who  has  carefully  laid  by 
some  savings,  and  has  been  living  years  and  years  in 
the  same  place.  She  tells  me  that,  when  she  first 
went  into  this  room  the  windows  looked  out  upon  a 
little  yard  with  a  pear-tree  in  it,  and  she  has  told  me 
how  Boston  used  to  be  famous  for  the  pears  it  raised. 
Now  it  is  all  built  in,  and  a  tenement  house  has  its 
dark  windows  overlooking  her  room  at  scarcely  ten 
feet  distance.  Apparently,  the  character  of  her  neigh 
bors  has  changed  greatly  too. 

"  I  used  to  know  everybody  in  the  house,"  she  said 
one  day,  "  but  now  the  tenants  of  the  rooms  above  and 
below  me  change  so  fast  that  I  can't  keep  the  run  of 
them."  She  has  always  had  some  kindly  people  about 
her,  however,  who  have  taken  a  care  and  oversight  of 
her,  and  she  seems  such  a  conservative  old  body  that  I 
never  should  have  ventured  to  propose  to  her  to  move 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  257 

away  from  such  surroundings.  But  my  mother  has 
been  turning  over  some  plans  for  getting  her  away 
from  this  crowded  part  of  the  town,  and  she  remem 
bered  a  Mrs.  Travers,  who  knew  about  Miss  Dexter 
and  all  the  old  traditions  of  my  mother's  family.  She 
had  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Travers,  telling  how  she  had 
taken  a  house  lately  in  Roxbury,  and  that  she  would 
be  glad  to  let  one  or  more  of  the  rooms  to  some  quiet 
body.  So  I  had  a  letter  from  my  mother,  asking  me 
if  I  could  not  persuade  Miss  Dexter  to  make  the 
change  into  a  pleasanter  neighborhood,  —  the  more 
easily  as  Miss  Dexter  knew  Mrs.  Travers  and  might 
feel  as  if  she  were  living  among  old  friends. 

As  I  have  said,  I  should  as  soon  have  thought  of 
proposing  to  Bunker  Hill  Monument  to  move.  So  I 
was  much  relieved  to  have  Mr.  Merton,  the  other  day, 
say  that  he  would  suggest  it  to  her.  You  may  remem 
ber  that  I  found  to  my  surprise  that  he,  too,  knew 
Miss  Dexter.  He  talked  it  over  the  day  we  were  at 
the  Middlesex  Fells ;  and  since  then  the  whole  thing 
has  been  managed  in  the  most  diplomatic  manner, 
with  a  series  of  visits  and  consultations  that  I  won't 
bother  you  with.  Finally,  we  gained  her  consent  to 
moving.  I  don't  believe  we  should  have  succeeded  if 
there  had  not  been  a  threat  that  a  street  was  to  be 
cut  through  the  little  court  she  lived  in,  and  that  the 
inhabitants  were  likely  to  be  turned  out  any  day.  So 
at  last  Miss  Dexter  said  with  a  sigh :  "  Well,  Brattle 
Street  church  was  moved,  so  I  suppose  I  can  goJ  " 

I  made  a  succession  of  visits  upon  Mrs.  Travers  in 
Roxbury,  looked  at  her  rooms  and  measured  them  for 
carpets  and  furniture,  previously  studying  up  all  the 
varieties  of  street  cars  that  might  connect  with  the 
place,  and  then  reported  them  to  Miss  Dexter.  Mr. 
Merton  has  been  splendid  about  the  whole  affair  and 
iias  really  done  all  the  difficult  work.  We  were  sur- 

17 


258  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

prised  to  find,  when  we  came  to  the  point,  that  after 
Miss  Dexter  knew  that  she  must  move,  she  was  really 
very  amenable  to  the  plan  of  going  so  far.  It  proved, 
indeed,  that  she  was  highly  satisfied  with  the  idea  of 
living  in  Roxbury,  if  she  coiild  not  live  in  Boston 
proper.  It  was  not  one  of  the  new-fashioned  suburbs 
that  have  grown  up  in  a  day,  and  Mrs.  Travers's  house 
is  in  a  respectable  old  quarter  of  the  town.  Miss 
Dexter  remembered  going  out  in  an  omnibus,  that  used 
in  old  times  to  go  over  the  "  Neck,"  as  the  upper  part 
of  Washington  Street  was  called. 

She  says  that  a  great-great-grandfather  of  mine,  or 
some  such  aged  ancestor,  used  to  live  at  the  North 
End ;  and  she  remembers  hearing  how,  when  they  had 
occasion  to  visit  some  of  their  cousins  at  the  South 
End,  who  lived  as  far  away  as  Essex  Street,  they 
used  to  have  an  early  dinner  so  that  they  might  have 
plenty  of  time  to  drive  there  with  their  horse  and 
chaise,  —  very  different  from  nowadays,  when  to  the 
true  "South  Ender"  Essex  Street  seems  very  far 
down  town. 

Miss  Dexter  only  stipulated  that  we  should  not 
expect  her  to  go  out  in  one  of  the  electric  cars.  She 
declared  she  was  not  afraid  of  them.  "  It  was  quite 
likely  they  wouldn't  take  fire  while  she  was  in 
them,  she  went  so  seldom."  But  the  step  was  very 
high,  and  she  did  not  think  an  old  lady  ought  to  try 
to  get  in.  Happily,  we  found  that  the  Norfolk  House 
car,  which  passes  near  her  old  residence,  would  take 
her  not  far  from  the  house  of  Mrs.  Travers. 

But  I  had  previously  made  this  close  acquaintance 
with  the  various  street-car  lines  that  I  have  explained 
to  you.  I  had  a  most  wearisome  adventure  the  first 
afternoon  that  I  visited  Mrs.  Travers.  She  wrote  to 
me  to  come  and  see  her  at  the  end  of  the  day,  as  she 
was  to  be  busy  all  day  long,  and  she  invited  me  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY,  259 

dine  with  her  at  six  o'clock,  promising  that  some  one 
should  escort  me  home.  This  suited  me  very  well, 
as  it  was  one  of  my  busy  days  too.  Among  other 
things,  I  went  for  a  short  visit  upon  Miss  Fenton  at 
the  Thorndike,  whom  I  had  quite  neglected  the  last 
ten  days.  Now,  a  short  call  is  very  impossible  upon 
Miss  Fenton,  as  she  always  involves  me  in  some  long 
and  really  interesting  discussion.  Then,  too,  I  had 
been  delayed  before  going  to  her  by  my  efforts  in 
hunting  up  some  one  else  on  Boylston  Street,  not  far 
from  her ;  but  whether  above  or  below  the  Thorndike, 
it  took  me  a  long  time  to  discover ;  and  I  had  to  go 
up  and  down  the  street  in  a  muddle  whether  it  was 
my  head  that  was  idiotic  or  whether  the  numbers 
were. 

I  was  relieved  when  I  discovered  that  I  was  not 
so  much  of  an  idiot  as  I  feared.  It  seems  that  each 
house  represents  four  numbers,  between  Tremont 
Street  and  Arlington  Street,  and  you  have  to  calcu 
late  accordingly.  I  could  not  understand  the  reason 
for  this  Boston  peculiarity,  but  Mr.  Merton  has  ex 
plained  to  me  that  it  is  a  new  arrangement  of  num 
bers.  For  these  houses  were  originally  stately 
dwelling-houses,  most  of  them  with  broad  fronts  on 
the  street.  Now  they  have  been  seized  upon  for 
business  purposes,  offices  or  shops.  Each  house, 
therefore,  requires  a  number  for  its  shop  and  another 
for  the  entrance  to  its  stairway  and  rooms  above. 
This  accounts-  for  two  numbers  on  each  house.  Then, 
in  Boston,  the  numbers  are  carried  from  one  side  of 
the  street  to  the  other,  the  odd  numbers  on  one  side, 
the  even  numbers  opposite.  But  between  Tremont 
Street  and  Arlington  Street  there  are  no  opposite 
houses ;  the  space  is  occupied  by  the  Common  as  far 
as  Charles  Street,  and  by  the  Public  Garden  farther 
on  to  Arlington  Street. 


260  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Now,  according  to  law,  not  only  are  there  no  houses 
but  there  never  can  be  any,  in  these  spaces  ;  so  the 
innocent  observer  in  counting  up  the  houses,  as  he 
passes  up  Boylston  Street,  finds  it  difficult  to  allow 
for  an  odd  number  in  the  opposite  row  of  houses, 
where  there  is  none  and  never  ought  to  be.  You 
may  think  it  stupid  of  the  innocent  observer  not  to 
notice  each  number,  as  he  or  she  passes  along,  in 
stead  of  going  through  the  difficult  sum  of  adding  up 
four  for  each  house.  But  some  of  the  numbers  have 
been  changed  and  some  have  not ;  and  some  houses  have 
both  the  old  and  the  new  numbers.  Some  are  so 
conservative  as  to  cling  to  the  old  numbers  by  which 
their  friends  have  always  known  them,  who  are  both 
ered  to  find  that  the  house  that  was  numbered  a  little 
over  one  hundred  has  now  jumped  to  three  hundred 
and  something.  I  don't  mean  that  you  find  four  num 
bers  on  each  house  ;  for  most  of  the  houses  have 
already  their  shops  and  entrance  doors  plainly 
marked;  but  those  that  have  not  these  modern  im 
provements  have  to  be  so  numbered,  because  they 
may  have  them  sometime.  So  you  are  bewildered  by 
finding  yourself,  as  it  were,  four  doors  higher  up  the 
street,  when  you  have  passed  only  one  house.  The 
house  in  which  Williams  and  Everett's  store  is  placed 
is  numbered  190,  and  the  one  before  it  186,  which 
looks  puzzling ! 

Forgive  this  long  story;  but  I  wanted  to  explain 
how  I  reached  the  corner  of  Boylston  and  Berkeley 
streets,  to  find  that  already  it  was  a  quarter  past  five. 
These  short  autumn  days  shut  down  on  one  fast 
enough  any  way,  and  by  five  o'clock  the  sun  is  dis 
appearing  behind  the  houses,  and  darkness  and  electric 
lights  begin.  And  alas !  as  I  reached  the  corner,  it 
began  to  rain  and  the  wind  to  blow.  Happily,  I  had 
my  umbrella,  which  I  had  not  been  needing  all  these 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  261 

pleasant  days  ;  for  I  had  to  wait  twenty  minutes, 
tossed  by  the  wind  and  wet  by  the  rain,  before  the 
West  End  car  appeared.  This  was  to  take  me  to  the 
Northampton  Street  corner,  where  I  was  to  find  a 
Norfolk  House  car.  But  here  I  had  another  period  of 
waiting.  Every  other  kind  of  car  came  along  but  the 
one  I  wanted.  I  dashed  out  into  the  middle  of  the  street 
in  all  the  wind  to  each  one,  to  see  if  it  were  for  the 
Norfolk  House.  I  grew  so  tired  of  the  Bartlett  Street 
cars,  there  were  so  many  of  them.  Anna  and  I  have 
thought  previously  it  might  be  well  to  move  to  Bart 
lett  Street,  as  it  seemed  to  be  easier  to  get  there  than 
anywhere  else.  But  we  concluded  it  must  be  too 
populous  for  us,  if  it  requires  so  many  cars.  Some 
body  calls  them  "  Bartlett  Pears,"  because  two  are  ap£ 
to  appear  together. 

I  thought  of  my  great-great-grandfather,  and  envied 
him  his  quiet,  early  dinner  and  peaceful  horse-and- 
chaise  journey  to  tea  with  his  friends  in  Essex  Street. 
But  I,  his  great-great-granddaughter,  had  fallen  into 
the  hurried  tide  of  the  times  ;  I  had  been  filling  up 
my  day  with  a  succession  of  occupations  that  would 
have  made  his  hair  stand  on  end,  —  if  he  had  not  worn 
a  wig,  — and  now  I  was  finishing  the  day  by  reaching 
Mrs.  Travers's  late  to  dinner  and  in  a  drenched  state. 
All  things  come  to  an  end,  however,  and  so  came  the 
Norfolk  House  car ;  and  at  its  end,  much  to  my  sur 
prise,  I  found  Mr.  Merton. 

In  this  affair  I  have  taken  the  responsibility  of 
arranging  with  Mrs.  Travers  in  Roxbury,  while  Mr. 
Merton  has  been  struggling  with  Miss  Dexter ;  so  I 
was  much  astonished  to  find  him  awaiting  me  at  the 
door  of  the  car  at  the  Norfolk  House.  It  appeared 
that  Mrs.  Travers  had  invited  him  also  to  dinner,  as 
matters  might  thus  be  more  easily  arranged,  and  he 
had  arrived  in  good  season.  Both  were  much  dis- 


262  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

turbed  when  the  heavy  rain  came  on  and  I  did  not 
appear;  so  Mr.  Merton  kindly  set  out  to  meet  me  at 
the  Norfolk  House.  He  declared  he  was  really  very 
anxious,  and,  indeed,  I  was  thankful  to  see  him ;  for 
by  this  time  it  was  half-past  six  and  "  pitch  dark."  He 
insisted  on  carrying  my  umbrella,  and  I  don't  know 
how  I  should  have  found  my  way  to  the  house  with 
out  him.  I  was  quite  ashamed  to  arrive  so  late  and  in 
such  a  condition ;  but  they  were  all  so  kind  that  we 
were  soon  laughing  over  the  whole  affair,  though  they 
were  full  of  pity  for  all  my  sufferings. 

I  saw  the  rooms  then  for  the  first  time,  and  they  are 
charming.  I  have  been  there  since  on  a  bright,  sunny 
day,  and  I  was  pleased  to  find  that  the  windows  look 
out  upon  a  little  garden  and  a  pear-tree,  so  that  Miss 
Dexter  can  seem  to  be  renewing  her  old  life. 

Mrs.  Travers  had  many  old  stories  to  tell  that 
evening,*  of  former  days  in  Boston  and  Roxbury  ;  and 
Mr.  Merton  was  "  the  escort "  into  town  whom  she  had 
promised  me.  We  had  again  another  delay  on  our  re 
turn  ;  for  there  had  been  a  blockade  far  down  by  the 
Tremont  House.  As  the  rain  had  stopped,  Mr.  Mer 
ton  proposed  our  walking  down  to  the  Jamaica  Plain 
"  electric,"  as  it  would  take  us  in  quicker.  But  every 
thing  was  delayed  forty  minutes,  so  it  was  late  when 
I  reached  home.  Yet  we  had  a  most  amusing  time, 
and  we  agreed  that,  though  the  ancestral  days  of 
horse  and  chaise  might  have  had  their  charms,  yet  we 
were  glad  to  live  in  these  later  times,  when  one  could 
growl  at  the  street  cars,  if  they  did  not  take  us  in  five 
minutes  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the  other,  and 
when  our  lives  were  certainly  more  varied  than  if  we 
had  lived  then. 

The  final  excursion,  when  we  really  bore  Miss  Try- 
phena  Dexter  away  from  her  old  home  to  her  new 
abode,  was  a  most  entertaining  one.  I  went  down  in 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  263 

the  morning  to  find  her.  Mr.  Merton  was  already  in 
her  room ;  the  expressman  had  been  to  carry  off  some 
of  her  effects ;  and  everything  else  was  packed  and  in 
good  order  to  follow  her.  Mr.  Merton  seems  to  have 
an  especial  managing  talent  for  conducting  such  things. 
I  have  not  needed  to  do  a  single  thing  about  the  boxes 
and  furniture,  and  evidently  it  has  all  been  made  very 
easy  for  Miss  Dexter. 

She  seemed  a  little  dazed  as  she  followed  us  down 
stairs  through  the  court,  on  our  way  to  the  Norfolk 
House  car,  which  we  were  to  await  on  the  corner  of 
the  street.  She  came  behind  us,  —  for  she  walked  so 
slowly,  —  and  begged  us  not  to  wait  for  her.  She  had 
a  singular  whim  of  turning  all  the  way  round  now  and 
then  to  look  behind  her,  stopping  in  the  middle  of 
the  sidewalk.  I  told  Mr.  Merton  that  I  thought  she 
was  sorrowfully  looking  back  upon  her  past  and  re 
gretting  to  leave  it.  But  he  said  he  had  heard  that 
she  had  always  had  this  peculiarity  of  locomotion 
even  in  her  earlier  days,  —  if  locomotion  it  could  be 
called  to  stop  deliberately  now  and  then  to  look 
backwards.  I  suppose  in  her  younger  days  the  side 
walks  were  not  so  crowded,  and  it  could  be  more  easily 
performed ;  and  perhaps  nowadays  it  may  be  some 
advantage  for  an  old  person  to  look  round  frequently 
to  see  if  there  is  an  electric  car  coming  up  behind  or 
a  herdic  in  sight.  Mr.  Merton  had  insisted  on  taking 
all  her  bags  except  one  small  and  precious  one  that  I 
conveyed.  She  herself  carried  two  shawls  and  a  large 
green  umbrella  that  had  lost  the  ring  that  once  held  it 
together.  In  this  comical  manner  we  reached  the  cor 
ner  of  the  street,  where  we  awaited  the  horse  car, 
Miss  Dexter  bringing  up  just  in  time. 

Happily,  there  was  plenty  of  room  at  this  early 
stage  of  the  journey,  though  the  car  filled  up  as  we 
went  on.  I  was  fain  to  give  up  my  seat ;  but  Mr. 


264  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Merton  would  not  allow  me,  though  I  am  always  will 
ing  to  stand,  and  do  not  object  at  all  to  being  asked  to 
"  move  forward,"  as  I  can  then  rest  myself  against  the 
front  door  of  the  car.  Miss  Dexter  recovered  her  tone 
as  we  went  on,  so  that,  as  we  passed  along  the  length 
of  Washington  Street,  she  could  give  me  a  history  of 
its  numerous  changes,  —  how  a  part  of  it  was  called  at 
one  time  Marlborough  Street,  and  another  part  New- 
bury  Street,  and  so  on.  A  little  beyond  Dover  Street, 
she  said,  were  some  buildings  called  "  The  Green 
Stores,"  —  I  believe  they  are  still  standing,  —  and  it 
seems  this  was  considered  a  distant  limit  of  Boston 
proper.  To  walk  to  "  The  Green  Stores  "  was  consid 
ered  a  good  stretch  for  a  constitutional  walk  for  one 
day,  and  some  young  ladies  managed  to  take  it  before 
breakfast  every  day.  But  Miss  Dexter  was  inclined 
to  think  this  was  not  healthful.  Mrs.  Travers  assisted 
in  testifying  to  some  of  these  facts,  after  we  reached 
her  house,  which  we  did  at  last.  There  was  the  same 
comical  method  of  walking  performed  by  Miss  Dexter, 
as  we  went  up  the  street  leading  to  Mrs.  Travers's 
house.  For  we  insisted  upon  her  going  in  front  of  us 
this  time,  as  I  was  afraid  she  might  really  be  lost  or 
drop  out  into  some  of  the  streets  that  we  passed. 

I  think  she  was  truly  pleased  with  her  room  when 
she  came  to  see  it.  Mr.  Merton  had  managed  to  have 
some  of  her  furniture  there  before  we  arrived ;  and 
she  looked  with  evident  pleasure  upon  her  old  ward 
robe  and  tables  and  her  old  bedstead  in  a  recess ;  and 
she  was  really  touched  when  she  looked  out  of  the 
window  and  saw  the  pear-tree  below,  now  laden  with 
pears.  So  we  left  her  for  the  day,  and  we  hear  she  is 
very  comfortable  and  likely  to  take  up  her  life  in  her 
new  home  with,  perhaps,  a  little  more  cheerfulness 
than  in  her  old  one. 

It   is   astonishing   how  much  Mr.    Merton  accom- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  265 

plished  in  all  this  affair  ;  for  he  is  very  busy  in  other 
ways.  He  has  been  away  from  town  once  or  twice  in 
these  last  weeks,  and  he  went  to  Philadelphia  for  a 
meeting  of  the  committee  on  the  Congress  of  Nations, 
that  must  have  been  immensely  interesting.  So  I 
think  it  was  amazingly  kind  of  him  to  give  so  much 
time  to  making  this  old  friend  of  his  mother  comfort 
able,  and  to  do  everything  in  so  thoughtful  a  way. 

Meanwhile  people  are  returning  to  Boston.  We 
see  the  children  playing  again  upon  the  sidewalks 
along  our  street,  and  the  youngest  members  of  society 
are  being  dragged  about  in  their  wicker  wagons  by  the 
nursemaids.  The  shops  are  filling  up  with  visitors, 
and  the  street  corners  are  more  than  ever  crowded.  I 
have  done  a  little  shopping  myself.  I  am  discour 
aged  to  see  that  the  fashion  of  birds'  wings  and 
feathers  for  hats  and  bonnets  is  filling  the  shop  win 
dows  with  all  kinds  of  gay  plumage,  that  gives  me  a 
sigh.  I  tried  to  get  some  flowers  the  other  day,  —  ar 
tificial  ones,  —  and  I  had  to  go  from  shop  to  shop. 
Mrs.  Davis,  Anna's  sister,  groans  about  this.  She  has 
just  come  from  Paris  and  she  wishes  she  could  have 
brought  more  of  the  exquisite  roses  and  every  variety 
of  flowers  that  make  the  Paris  shops  so  charming. 

The  making  of  flowers  is  a  fine  art  there,  and  no 
body  can  resist  trimming  their  hats  and  bonnets  with 
them,  whatever  the  fashion  may  be.  But  she  declares 
that  Boston  has  a  craze,  now  and  then,  for  feathers 
and  such  trimming,  and  that  the  shops  are  not  willing 
that  one  should  wear  anything  else.  It  amuses  me, 
since  I  have  come  from  the  country  and  am  fancying 
Boston  to  be  a  large  city,  to  hear  her  call  it  very  pro 
vincial  in  this  respect,  in  that  it  does  not  allow  more 
variety  in  such  matters  of  taste.  She  declares  the 
shop  windows  are  all  alike,  and  that  there  is  the 


266  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

same  thing  in  all.  I  have  to  agree  with  her  with 
regard  to  this  feather  business.  But  I  must  say  that 
I  enjoy  going  through  the  large  shops  with  my  un 
sophisticated  eyes,  which  find  much  to  admire  and 
much  to  suggest. 

My  people  have  not  got  back  yet  to  Boston.  Aunt 
Martha  is  still  at  Bar  Harbor,  and  Maria  has  gone 
with  some  friends  to  the  White  Mountains  to  find 
the  bright  leaves  —  if  there  are  any.  Cousin  Eupert 
has  gone  off,  nobody  knows  where.  Meantime,  Aunt 
Martha  is  anxious  to  have  me  stay  here  till  her  return, 
and  I  am  very  glad  not  to  be  hunting  up  my  boarding- 
place  in  these  busy  days. 

Anna  and  I  have  had  some  delightful  "  rehearsal " 
afternoons.  It  is  lucky  that  we  have  strength  and 
spirits  to  go  through  it  all.  The  concerts  do  not  be 
gin  till  half-past  two  in  the  afternoon,  but  we  present 
ourselves  at  Music  Hall  long  before  the  doors  are  open, 
to  stand  our  chance  of  getting  in  for  a  seat.  Before 
the  winter  is  over  we  may  learn  how  those  "  some 
bodies  "  manage  who  do  get  a  front  seat  in  the  upper 
balcony.  We  are  always  among  the  first  at  the  doors, 
and  we  have  some  speed  of  motion ;  but  one  afternoon 
we  had  to  content  ourselves  with  seats  on  the  steps  of 
the  stage,  which  we  considered  a  great  success,  and 
the  other  afternoon,  we  took  turns  for  a  seat  in  one 
of  the  side  rows  of  the  upper  balcony.  But  for  all  our 
struggles  and  standing  and  waiting  we  are  fully  repaid, 
and  we  enjoy  more  and  more  the  delights  of  the  music. 
I  consider  it  a  liberal  education  to  hear  it,  and  it  makes 
one  only  long  for  more. 

Anna  and  I  have  amused  ourselves  by  getting  out 
an  old  book  from  the  library  here,  "  Sandford  and 
Merton."  I  don't  believe  even  you  have  been  suffi 
ciently  educated  to  be  familiar  with  it.  But  it  was  a 
famous  book  for  children  in  its  day.  My  father  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  267 

mother  used  to  think  a  great  deal  of  it  and  tried  to 
make  me  read  it;  but  I  remember  I  did  not  get  on 
with  it  very  well.  But  we  are  quite  entertained  by  it 
now  and  we  wonder  that  the  youthful  generation  are 
not  made  acquainted  with  it.  To  be  sure,  there  is  ever 
so  much  of  it,  and  the  volume  we  have  is  in  very  fine 
print,  and  it  looks  as  if  it  would  take  forever  to  read 
the  whole.  One  opens  upon  such  passages  as  this : 
Harry  says  to  Mr.  Barlow :  "  Pray,  dear  sir,  read  to 
Master  Tommy  the  story  of  Leonidas,  which  gave  me 
so  much  pleasure.  I  am  sure  he  will  like  to  hear  it." 
Mr.  Barlow,  accordingly,  reads  the  history  of  Leonidas, 
king  of  Sparta, — in  very  large  letters,  —  and  the  story 
follows,  making  four  pages  of  close  print.  After  it 
comes  an  admirable  lesson  in  astronomy,  and  all  is 
very  instructive,  you  perceive.  But  this  age  of  ours 
is  instructive ;  and  why  not  bring  back  "  Sandford  and 
Merton  "  ? 

The  two  names  entertain  Anna  and  me  very  much, 
and  there  is  a  Harry  Sandford  who  is  one  of  the  heroes 
of  the  book.  All  of  which  reminds  me  that  there 
used  to  be  a  tradition  in  our  family  that  "  Harry  and 
Lucy,"  the  brother  and  sister  of  Miss  Edgeworth's 
story,  were  real  characters ;  that  Harry's  family  was 
named  Merton,  so  he  was  a  Harry  Merton,  and  that 
his  sister,  Lucy,  married  a  Sandford,  from  whom  we  are 
descended.  It  would  be  interesting  to  prove  that  our 
new  friend  Harry  Merton  is  descended  from  this 
original  Harry.  But  all  this  is  nonsense ;  yet  it 
seems  to  amuse  us  —  when  we  find  time. 

I  have  just  heard  of  a  course  of  ten  lectures  to  be 
given  during  this  autumn  and  winter  by  General 
Francis  A.  Walker,  the  president  of  the  Institute  of 
Technology,  beginning  November  9,  and  continuing 
on  Mondays  at  11  A.  M.,  on  political  economy.  I  am 
fondly  hoping  that  I  can  go,  and  I  feel  it  would  be  a 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

sufficient  reason  for  spending  the  winter  in  Boston,  to 
hear  these  lectures. 

I  have  been  much  surprised  and  interested,  since  I 
have  been  here,  in  learning  how  much  has  been  done 
by  liberal  women  in  Boston,  in  individual  ways,  to 
assist  the  city  in  enlarging  education  in  the  public 
schools.  The  liberality  of  Mrs.  Quincy  Shaw  has 
made  the  public  kindergarten  one  of  the  possibilities 
in  these  schools.  And  earlier,  Mrs.  Mary  Hemenway, 
beginning  with  liberal  experiments  of  her  own,  suc 
ceeded  in  introducing  into  the  public  schools  the  teach 
ing  of  sewing,  and  afterward,  of  cooking.  Lately,  in 
the  same  way,  she  has  called  attention  to  the  Swedish 
system  of  educational  gymnastics,  which  is  now  intro 
duced  in  the  schools.  Through  her  munificence,  the 
Swedish  system,  under  the  instruction  of  Baron  Posse, 
was  a  little  while  ago  offered  to  a  class  consisting  of 
public  school  teachers,  who  were  also  given  a  course 
in  anatomy  by  Dr.  Emma  Call. 

Mrs.  Hemenway  has  now  inaugurated  a  Normal 
School  of  Gymnastics,  to  instruct  teachers  in  the 
Swedish  or  "Ling"  system.  This  is  established  at 
the  Paine  Memorial  Hall,  Appleton  Street,  under  the 
charge  of  Claes  J.  Enebuske,  the  Swedish  teacher  and 
lecturer.  I  have  been  reading  with  interest  his  ad 
dress  given  to  the  masters  of  the  public  schools.  He 
shows  how  important  such  physical  training  is  for  the 
pupils  of  our  schools,  who  spend  so  much  time  in  a 
cramped,  sitting  position,  and  he  carefully  explains 
the  advantages  of  the  Swedish  exercises  and  gymnas 
tic  games. 

I  am  much  interested  in  the  account  he  gives  of  the 
Swedish  love  of  such  games  and  gymnastic  dances. 
He  says :  "  It  may  give  you  an  idea  of  some  of  these 
dances,  when  I  tell  you  that  it  is  but  about  twenty- 
five  years  since,  in  certain  provinces  of  Sweden,  a  girl 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  269 

looked  upon  that  man  as  inferior  who  could  not  kick 
twice  his  own  height,  and  in  the  dance  lift  her  over  his 
head  while,  on  his  toes,  he  moved  his  feet  in  time  with 
the  quick  rhythm  of  the  music." 

I  can't  help  thinking  what  an  admirable  bit  of  edu 
cation  it  would  be,  if  it  were  possible  that,  along  with 
the  solid  instruction  we  are  requiring  nowadays,  we 
might  also  bring  in  a  love  and  pleasure  in  such  a 
healthy  use  of  the  muscles  of  the  body.  How  I 
should  like  to  stir  up  some  of  our  good  neighbors 
at  home  with  a  Swedish  dance,  which  need  not  be 
quite  so  muscular  as  the  one  described  by  the  Swedish 
teacher,  but  which  they  could  not  object  to,  as  they 
would  have  been  taught  it  as  a  school  exercise  among 
the  other  courses  of  instruction ! 


270  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER   TWENTY-FIKST. 
XXIV. 

HAREY   TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  Oct.  27,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  This  time,  at  least,  Nahum 
shall  not  say  that  my  letter  is  uneventful.  Was  it  he 
or  one  of  the  others  who  said  I  might  as  well  be  at 
Astney  ?  Faithless  Nahum  !  who  shall  say  what  may 
yet  come  out  of  Astney  ?  Indeed,  dear  Mother,  you 
may  receive  this  by  parts ;  for  the  writing  is  hurried, 
and  I  know  it  will  take  more  than  one  stamp.  But  if 
I  see  any  notice  with  names  in  the  newspapers,  I  shall 
mail  it  to  you;  for  I  know  you  will  be  frightened 
then,  and  I  shall  want  you  to  know  at  once  that  all 's 
well  that  ends  well. 

It  all  happened  just  before  dark  last  night.  There 
had  been  some  trouble  about  the  delivery  of  some  of 
our  boxes.  And  on  inquiry  it  proved  that  the  par 
ticular  man  who  drove  the  particular  express  wagon 
which  the  shipping-clerk  thought  or  guessed  took 
them  lived  at  South  Boston.  So  I  was  told  to  clear 
up  my  work  early  at  the  desk  and  go  over  to  South 
Boston,  see  this  driver,  and  get  out  of  him,  if  I  could, 
what  he  did  with  the  boxes  and  what .  he  did  not  do. 
This  was  how  I  came  to  be  in  Gold  Street  at  all.  For 
I  had  never  heard  of  Gold  Street  myself  any  more  than 
you  have.  And  how  should  you  ever  have  heard  of  it, 
seeing  it  was  all  under  water  when  you  lived  here. 

Well,  I  was  poking  along  through  Something-else 
Street  and  had  not  turned  into  Gold  Street,  when  I  saw 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  271 

that  half  a  dozen  or  more  little  "  muckers  "  in  front 
of  me  ran  hastily  forward  with  yells  and  disappeared. 
The  thing  is  so  common  that  I  never  should  have 
thought  of  it  again  but  for  what  followed.  If  I  thought 
of  it  at  all  then,  I  supposed  that  there  was  a  grinding 
organ  or  a  monkey  or  a  cart  of  apples.  But  when  I 
came  into  Gold  Street  I  saw  as  large  a  crowd  as  if 
"The  Cornet  Man"  were  there.  Yet  there  was  no 
sound  of  a  cornet,  but  rather  the  real  presence  of 
battle. 

I  am  so  tall  that  I  saw  at  once  what  the  matter  was. 
Three  Salvation  Army  girls,  in  their  uniform,  had  un 
dertaken  some  errand  down  there.  I  know  enough  of 
these  people  now  to  know  that  it  was  some  errand  of 
mercy.  But  nobody  in  their  dress  was  to  pass  these 
hoodlums.  Observe,  they  had  no  band  of  music,  nor 
were  they  singing  or  shouting,  not  even  speaking,  ex 
cept  to  each  other.  But  so  soon  as  these  little  black 
guards  saw  them,  they  began  crying  out  with  impudent 
cries,  and  then  closed  up  round  them  so  as  to  frighten 
the  girls.  Then  somebody  flung  a  cabbage  stalk,  heavy 
with  its  root  and  the  dirt  on  it,  at  one,  and  it  struck 
her  full  in  the  face. 

The  poor  child  screamed  out  with  the  sudden  pain. 
This  was,  so 'far  as  I  could  learn,  the  first  cry  or 
spoken  word  that  Any  one  of  them  had  uttered,  ex 
cept  to  each  other.  But  it  was  enough  and  more  than 
enough  to  precipitate  what  became  the  battle  I  speak 
of.  Instantly  boys  and  girls  began  to  pelt  them  with 
such  missiles  as  they  could  most  easily  pick  up.  A 
lady  who  came  into  the  street  at  the  moment  rushed 
up  to  protect  them.  More  sticks  and  stones  on  all 
four.  The  scream  was  what  had  called  the  party  I 
saw. 

I  myself  had  not  noticed  it.  The  crowd  constantly 
increased.  Oh!  there  must  have  been  more  than  a 


272  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

hundred  of  these  little  wretches  round  those  four  poor 
ladies  when  I  turned  into  Gold  Street.  By  this  time 
they  were  pulling  at  their  clothes  and  hats,  while  the 
four  were  huddled  together  in  a  group,  trying  to  crowd 
against  the  wall,  so  as  to  have  their  enemies  only  on 
one  side.  They  were  on  the  sidewalk  and  on  the  steps 
of  a  door,  which  lifted  them  rather  above  most  of  the 
mob,  for  mob  it  was,  but  made  them  a  better  mark  for 
the  missiles. 

Of  course,  the  minute  I  saw  this,  for  it  was  quite 
light  enough  to  see,  though  the  sun  must  have  gone 
down,  I  rushed  across  to  the  rescue.  Boys  and  girls 
gave  way  to  the  right  and  left,  and  until  I  came  there 
I  did  not  use  nor  wish  to  use  my  stick.  I  remember 
thinking  I  was  sorry  it  was  not  heavier.  It  was  the 
stick  JSTahuin  cut  on  Ascutney  and  trimmed  for  me  so 
nicely.  But  it  proved  better  as  it  was. 

I  stumbled  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk  as  I  rushed 
on.  I  should  have  fallen  flat,  but  there  were  quite  too 
many  of  these  hoodlums,  male  and  female.  I  only 
fell,  so  to  speak,  on  them.  I  had  the  stick  by  the 
middle  now  and  I  did  not  distress  myself  by  any  ques 
tions  as  to  where  it  struck.  I  had  no  time  to  read  any 
Biot  Act.  I  was  not  dissatisfied  when  I  heard  a  good, 
loud  yell  of  pain,  which  did  not  come  from  one  of  the 
beleaguered  ladies. 

But  at  the  same  moment  I  was  conscious  of  a  stout 
pull  at  my  left  arm,  which  I  could  not  at  the  instant 
throw  off.  I  recovered  my  footing  securely,  however, 
and  brought  up  my  stick  so  people  could  see  it  and 
know  at  once  that  we  were  all  free  men  here.  I  felt  a 
smart  tug  at  my  coat  behind.  But  I  closed  against  the 
wall  so  suddenly  that  that  little  pirate  found  his  head 
was  softer  than  the  bricks.  I  heard  his  mumbling 
threats  as  he  retired.  I  watched  another  boy  and 
brought  down  the  stick  just  heavily  enough  not  to 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  273 

break  on  his  head.  But  by  this  time  there  was  no 
pressure  on  us.  They  were  scattering  like  pigeons, 
right  and  left,  scattering  faster  than  I  could  think  even 
my  prowess  deserved.  I  dared  turn  my  head  to  look, 
and  three  good  fellows,  who  proved  to  be  policemen  in 
citizen's  dress,  were  coming  up  on  the  other  side.  The 
battle  was  over,  and  nothing  was  left  but  to  rescue  the 
women  and  get  them  out  from  further  danger. 

Actually,  my  dear  Mother,  each  one  of  those  three 
girls  was  bleeding  from  the  blows  of  the  sticks  or 
stones.  I  did  not  understand  that  any  of  the  cowards 
had  struck?  them,  but  they  had  thrown  these  things 
from  a  distance.  Their  hats  were  crushed ;  their 
clothes  were  torn ;  and  the  dirt  and  blood  on  their 
faces  were  fearful  to  see.  Poor  things !  they  had 
been  crying,  as  well  they  might,  and  now  they  hardly 
knew  what  they  said.  I  gave  one  my  arm,  and  each 
of  the  policemen  took  one  of  the  others  and  the  fourth 
woman,  who  had  come  down  from  the  house.  We 
walked  along  to  Dorchester  Street  or  Dorchester 
Avenue,  whichever  it  is,  as  quick  as  we  could  without 
appearing  to  be  in  flight.  I  was  trying  to  encourage 
my  companion  and  get  the  story  of  the  affray  from 
her.  And  it  is  from  her  and  what  I  saw  and  what 
Lucy  told  me  afterward  that  I  have  made  the  account 
I  have  given  you. 

For,  dear  Mother,  strange  to  say,  when  we  came  to 
Dorchester  Avenue  it  proved  that  the  fourth  lady  in 
the  party  was  Lucy  Sandford.  She  had  been  on  one  of 
her  charity  visits,  and  came  down,  as  I  said,  just  before 
I  saw  the  affair.  When  I  came  up,  the  poor  child  was 
actually  bending  down  to  protect  one  of  the  "  Salvation  " 
girls,  who  was  fairly  sitting  on  the  steps.  So  I  did 
not  then  see  her,  nor  she  me.  When  the  policemen 
appeared  she  turned  to  speak  to  them,  and  I  was 
talking  and  threatening  and  shaking  my  stick  at  the 

18 


274  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

last  of  the  fugitives.  And  it  was  not  till  we  began 
our  rapid  retreat,  for  retreat  it  was,  that  she  knew  who 
was  in  front  of  her.  For  me,  I  did  not  know  at  all 
who  was  behind  me  until  we  came  to  Dorchester 
Avenue,  where,  of  course,  we  had  to  wait  before  any 
car  came.  If  I  had  known,  you  may  guess  whether  I 
would  not  have  asked  the  policeman  who  had  given 
her  his  arm  to  exchange  with  me. 

I  cannot,  dear  Mother,  send  the  rest  of  this  letter  in 
print.  It  is  really  only  for  your  eyes.  I  sent  them 
yesterday  the  beginning  of  this  story.  But  only  you 
must  have  the  end. 

[NOTE  BY  THE  EDITORS.  —  We  find  this  remark  made  by  Mr. 
Merton  at  the  beginning  of  page  nine  of  his  MS.  It  places  us  in 
rather  an  embarrassing  position.  All  we  can  say  is  that  the  office 
boy  of  the  C.  D.  I.  D.  C.  P.  Co.  brought  round  the  envelope  con 
taining  the  following  sheets,  as  he  always  does.  The  compositors 
are  waiting  for  two  columns  and  a  half  of  copy,  the  space  reserved 
for  Mr.  Merton.  We  shall  therefore  put  this  in  type.  If  he 
countermands  it,  why,  he  can.  If  not,  we  must  suppose  he  has 
changed  his  mind.] 

I  told  the  policemen  I  would  see  the  young  people 
home,  and  at  last  the  Dorchester  Avenue  car  came  the 
right  way.  There  had  been  a  plenty  going  the  other 
way,  as  I  need  not  say.  I  am  afraid  I  must  confess 
that  I  let  the  "  Salvation  Lasses  "  comfort  each  other, 
while  I  asked  Miss  Sandford  a  hundred  questions  as  to 
the  fate  which  brought  her  into  Gold  Street  and  her 
share  in  the  battle  royal. 

It  was  all,  I  believe,  as  I  have  said.  She  had  some 
poor  person  whom  she  had  gone  to  see,  or  to  try  to 
see ;  for  she  had  the  wrong  number,  or  the  poor  person 
was  a  fraud.  After  inquiring  from  room  to  room  in 
vain,  she  had  come  downstairs  disappointed,  when, 
stepping  out  on  the  stoop,  she  found  herself  in  the 
midst  almost  of  the  fray.  "  Of  course,  I  could  not 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  275 

think  of  going  back  then,"  she  said,  "though  for  a 
minute  I  did  ask  myself  whether  I  could  not  get  the 
poor  girls  into  the  house.  But,  to  tell  you  the 
truth,"  she  continued,  "  I  was  not  much  more  sure  of 
the  house  than  I  was  of  the  street.  Perhaps,  you 
know,  the  fathers  and  mothers  might  have  taken  part 
with  the  children." 

Then  I  tried  to  make  her  say  that  she  would  not  go 
to  such  places  alone  again.  I  did  not  think  it  was 
any  fit  venture  for  her.  I  said  I  would  go  with  her,  if 
she  were  willing  to  go  after  five  in  the  afternoon. 
But  of  course,  she  parried  this.  She  said  she  thought 
she  had  better  go  by  daylight  than  in  the  dark,  and,  of 
course  she  was  right  there.  She  said  it  was  nowhere 
written  that  such  enterprises  should  be  agreeable. 
Indeed,  she  dropped  her  voice  a  little  and  said  that 
she  had  never  been  taught  to  shun  any  duty,  because 
it  was  disagreeable.  She  said  she  had  never  had  so 
much  respect  for  these  young  women  with  us  as  she 
had  to-day.  They  had  not  spoken  an  unkind  word  in 
the  midst  of  it  all.  They  had  undertaken  to  do  this 
thing,  wisely  or  not,  and,  because  they  thought  it 
was  their  duty,  they  were  going  to  carry  it  through. 

Thus  we  had  a  very  interesting  talk  all  the  way. 
We  "  transferred  "  to  a  Broadway  car  into  town,  and 
this  brings  you  close  to  the  "  Salvation  "  headquarters. 
There  we  got  out  with  the  poor  martyrs,  as  I  shall 
always  call  them,  and  Lucy  went  upstairs  with  them, 
I  following.  You  see  all  the  officers  of  this  division, 
or  company,  live  in  part  of  the  building,  close  by  the 
hall ;  or  at  least,  if  they  do  not  live  there,  they  have 
to  report  there.  So  the  young  ladies,  for  ladies  they 
are,  thanked  us  very  prettily,  and  I  explained  to 
the  officer  I  found  our  share  in  the  business,  and  then 
leaving  the  "  Salvationers,"  we  two  went  our  way. 

I  wanted  to  find  a  cab  to  take  Miss  Saiidford  home  ; 


276  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

but  this  she  would  not  hear  of.  It  was  quite  dark  by 
this  time ;  but  when  she  found  I  meant  to  go  home 
with  her  she  said  that  she  would  walk.  I  made  her 
take  my  arm,  and  we  went  through  Pleasant  Street 
and  crossed  through  the  Providence  station  to  Boyl- 
ston  Street,  and  so  to  her  fhome. 

I  knew,  of  course,  dear  Mother,  that  I  had  no  right, 
then  or  yet,  to  take  the  tone  of  a  protector  or  of  an 
adviser.  But  I  did  feel  that  somebody  ought  to,  and 
that  so  sweet  a  girl,  or  if  it  is  better  to  say  so,  so 
noble  a  woman,  ought  not  to  put  herself  in  the  way  of 
a  stray  "  brickbat "  from  any  hoodlum  boys  who  might 
have  been  drinking  more  beer  than  was  good  for 
them.  This  time  I  said  that,  —  rather  more  cau 
tiously  than  I  had  said  it  in  the  horse-car.  I  knew  I 
must  not  go  too  far,  you  see,  or  she  would  cut  me  off 
very  short.  I  had  tried  that  once  before. 

But  I  did  say  that,  granting  all  she  had  said,  —  that 
we  must  bear  each  other's  burdens,  and  that  no  one 
had  ever  promised  that  the  burdens  should  be  light,  — 
still  there  is  method  in  everything,  I  said,  and  there 
is  a  right  way  and  wrong  way.  And  that  such  work 
as  this  seemed  to  me  to  be  fairly  the  work  of  men, 
and  that  this  afternoon  had  proved  it  so.  I  said  that 
the  whole  presumption  of  the  Associated  Charities 
people,  to  whom  she  had  joined  herself,  is  that  they 
are  going  to  make  "  friendly^'  visits  in  Gold  Street 
and  the  other  places.  "  Not  alms,  but  a  friend,"  is 
their  motto. 

Now,  I  said,  it  was  almost  absurd  to  pretend  that 
she  was  making  a  "  friendly  "  visit,  when  she  did  not 
even  know  where  her  "  friends  "  lived  and  when  she 
was  not  sure  their  "  friends "  would  not  throw  a 
rotten  egg  at  her.  But  she  would  not  laugh.  She 
only  said  that,  if  society  were  divided  in  such  fashion 
that  she  could  not  have  friends  in  Gold  Street,  so 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  277 

much  the  worse  for  society ;  that,  for  her  part,  she 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  except  to  put  it  on 
a  higher  and  better  plane.  And  this  she  said,  not 
in  any  heroic  vein,  but  as  a  woman  of  sense,  who  had 
thought  the  thing  out,  and  was  not  talking  at 
random. 

I  need  not  say  that  I  wished  the  walk  was  half  an 
hour  longer.  Only  then  it  would  have  been,  not  a 
walk,  but  a  jumbling  ride  in  a  cab,  and  would  have 
been  over  in  half  the  time.  But  we  were  both  of  us 
very  serious.  I  was  not  thinking  of  myself,  whether 
I  should  please  her ;  I  was  only  thinking  of  her,  and 
how  to  save  her  from  real  danger.  Only  too  soon  we 
came  out  at  the  steps  of  the  house  in  the  avenue.  I 
rang  the  bell  and  said  good -by. 

Then  the  dear  girl  said  no,  that  we  must  not  part 
so ;  that  I  must  come  in  and  have  my  dinner  Avith 
them.  "  And  then,"  she  said,  "  I  will  repeat  to  them 
what  you  say,  and  they  shall  decide  whether  I  shall 
go  to  Gold  Street  itself  or  to  any  other  Gold  Street 
again.  I  have  no  wish  to  be  heroic,"  she  went  on, 
"but  I  do  want  to  be  of  use.  I  am  not  satisfied 
with  finding  out  how  other  people  live."  This  is  a 
favorite  phrase  of  mine,  which  she  had  heard  me  use. 
"  I  want,  if  I  can,  to  live  with  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  and  women  and  children,  and  to  be  of  use  to 
them  —  if  I  can.  I  have  had  experience  enough 
already  to  know  that  they  will  be  of  use  to  me." 

Dear  Mother,  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  her  sweet, 
sad  smile  as  she  said  this.  "We  were  in  the  house  now 
and  were  just  turning  into  that  elegant  drawing-room, 
with  its  flowers  and  books  and  pictures.  As  for  her, 
she  looked  like  an  angel,  as  the  light  from  the 
chandelier  fell  upon  her  face.  As  I  say,  there  was  just 
a  smile,  but  a  sad  smile.  For  I  think  we  both  felt 
the  contrast  between  the  elegance  of  these  surround- 


278  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

ings  and  the  plain  board  partitions  of  the  Salvation 
Army  quarters  which  we  had  just  left,  —  yes,  and  the 
squalor  and  grime  and  dirt  and  blood  of  the  flight  of 
steps  in  Gold  Street. 

Without  saying  a  word,  I  had  accepted  her  invita 
tion.  Indeed,  it  seemed  a  matter  of  course  now.  I 
felt  I  must  stay  as  near  her  as  I  could,  even  if  the 
next  hour  I  was  told  that  I  should  never  see  her  again. 
But  at  the  moment  I  had  no  chance  to  answer.  Miss 
Davis  came  in  with  a  cousin  who  was  visiting  them, 
and  very  naturally  they  were  excited  and  nervous ; 
for  Lucy  was  a  great  deal  later  than  usual.  They 
knew  she  had  been  going  over  to  South  Boston 
and  they  were  almost  as  anxious  as  I  should  have 
been.  As  luck  would  have  it,  Lucy  had  laid  her 
handkerchief  on  the  table,  and  it  was  all  red  with 
blood  that  she  had  wiped  from  the  face  of  one  of 
those  poor  girls. 

"  Where  have  you  been  ?  What  has  happened  ?  " 
cried  Miss  Davis.  And  do  you  know,  I  found  out 
afterward  that  there  was  a  great  yellow  smooch  from 
an  egg  on  my  shirt  front,  and  that  my  face  was  well 
blackened  by  a  lump  of  mud  which  had  hit  me  in  the 
fight.  Of  course,  between  us,  we  made  such  explana 
tions  as  in  a  few  words  we  could.  Lucy  explained 
that  I  was  to  stay  to  dinner,  and  then  I  was  hurried 
to  a  dressing-room  to  make  myself  comfortable,  as 
Miss  Davis  said.  She  was  too  civil  to  say  to  make 
myself  look  decently.  Really,  till  I  looked  in  the 
glass  I  had  no  idea  how  battle-stained  I  was.  I  made 
myself  as  decent  as  I  could,  and  joined  the  party  at 
dinner.  r 

I  need  not  say  every  one  was  excited.  We  fought 
our  little  battle  over  and  over  again ;  Lucy  from  the 
point  of  view  of  a  person  assailed,  and  I  from  the 
point  of  view  of  a  spectator.  Both  of  us  did  full 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  279 

justice  to  the  policemen,  who  were  excellent  fellows, 
and  without  whom  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know  where  I 
should  be  now.  Lucy  would  not  let  me  be  too  modest, 
and  acknowledged  that  her  first  sense  of  relief  was 
when  she  heard  my  first  battle-cry,  though  she  did  not 
know  who  I  was ;  and  she  confessed  to  a  certain  satis 
faction  when  my  stick  descended  on  the  hard  hat  of 
the  boy  whom  I  hit  hardest.  The  ladies  cannot  be 
said  to  have  listened  a  great  deal.  I  observe  that  no 
body  ever  listens  a  great  deal  to  anything.  They  were 
full  of  ejaculations  and  suggestions  of  what  they  had 
thought  and  said,  and  what  they  had  heard  other  peo 
ple  think  and  say,  and  protests  about  how  badly  the 
city  was  governed,  and  so  on.  I  do  not  myself  think 
that  we  had  much  to  say  about  that,  because  the  police 
men  were  the  people  who  rescued  us.  If  anybody 
wants  to  talk  about  how  badly  the  children  in  the 
streets  are  educated,  and  what  is  the  condition  of 
things  in  which  there  can  be  such  a  troop  of  banditti 
ready  to  fall  on  three  unoffending  young  women,  I 
shall  be  glad  to  discuss  that  matter  with  him.  But 
of  this  nothing  now,  dear  Mother. 

I  was  not  even  hungry,  and  I  know  it  bored  me  to 
have  that  well-trained  servant  bring  round  the  things 
that  I  was  expected  to  eat  and  to  attend  to.  I  sup 
pose  it  was  a  very  good  dinner,  but  for  my  part  I 
wished  it  was  over.  I  did  not  know  why  I  wished  it 
was  over ;  only  I  knew  it  was  all  very  irrational  and 
unnatural  for  us  to  be  discussing  the  government  of 
Boston  and  political  economy  and  the  social  condition 
of  the  world  in  general,  when  I  wanted  to  be  alone 
with  Lucy  Sandford.  I  did  not  catch  her  eye  once 
through  the  dinner,  although  I  sat;  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  table  from  her.  I  need  not  say  that  they 
all  made  her  talk,  but,  as  I  said,  I  think  I  was  the 
only  person  who  really  listened. 


280  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

[At  this  point  Mr.  Merton's  letter  really  stops,  and  the  editors 
are  compelled  to  believe  that  the  pages  which  have  been  published 
since  the  editorial  note  above  were  sent  by  mistake  to  this  office, 
instead  of  being  put  into  the  cover  which  probably  inclosed  the 
remainder  of  his  narrative.  But  it  seemed  so  evident  to  us  that 
our  readers  were  entitled  to  the  rest  of  this  incident  that  we  have 
availed  ourselves  of  the  general  resources  of  a  newspaper,  and  of 
that  omniscience  which  is  fortunately  one  of  the  attributes  of  our 
profession,  to  complete  the  narrative  which  Mr.  Merton  has  left 
broken.  —  EDS.  COMMONWEALTH.] 

Of  course,  Harry  Merton  could  have  bowed  himself 
out  of  the  house  as  soon  as  coffee  had  been  served  in 
the  drawing-room.  But  it  must  be  hoped  that  we  have 
some  readers,  courageous  enough  and  determined  to 
see  this  exciting  enterprise  to  its  real  end,  who  will 
say  that  of  course  he  did  not  bow  himself  out.  Those 
readers  are  quite  right.  He  did  not.  He  waited 
bravely  to  see  if  there  might  not  be  one  chance  more 
to  speak  with  Lucy  Sandford  alone.  If  he  were  taught 
in  no  other  way  that  he  must  speak  to  her  alone,  the 
mere  choking  in  his  throat,  when  he  made  absolute 
efforts  to  swallow  a  piece  of  potato  or  of  cauliflower, 
would  have  told  him  that  he  could  never  pass  that 
night,  without  solving  that  question  of  infinite  impor 
tance  which  their  walk  had  not  been  long  enough  to 
solve. 

"You  will  hardly  feel  like  going  to  the  Dorcas, 
Lucy  ? "  This  was  Miss  Davis's  inquiry  as  the  last 
coffee-cup  was  carried  away.  No,  Lucy  did  not  think 
she  would  go  out  again,  though  she  again  asseverated 
that  she  was  not  tired ;  only  she  thought  she  had 
better  not  take  the  chances  of  being  wet.  With  great 
resolution  she  did  say,  and  that  in  an  unconcerned 
voice,  —  as  unaffected  as  her  voice  always  is,  —  that 
she  hoped  her  absence  would  not  keep  them  at  home. 
She  knew  Anna  had  to  report  for  her  committee  and 
that  she  would  be  missed.  Indeed,  she  said  firmly 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  281 

that  if  Anna  would  not  go  without  her,  she  should 
put  on  her  hat  and  coat  and  overshoes  again  and 
go  with  them.  Miss  Davis  made  no  motion  to  stay. 
She  said  that  Lucy  had  better  go  to  bed  early,  and 
she  and  Miss  Wentworth  excused  themselves  to  her 
and  to  Mr.  Merton,  while  they  made  themselves  ready. 
A  carriage  was  called  by  telephone,  and  Harry  and 
Lucy  found  themselves  again  alone. 

But  Harry  did  not  yet  seize  his  opportunity.  He 
was  not  yet  wholly  sure  that  it  was  an  opportunity. 
He  did  not  mean  to  be  interrupted  by  the  ladies  as 
they  came  in  hatted  and  shod,  not  to  say  booted  and 
spurred,  for  the  Circle.  He  did,  however,  lead  back 
directly  to  the  conversation  in  their  walk.  "  Miss 
Davis,"  he  began,  "  takes  my  side,  you  see,  in  our  dis 
cussion."  "  Did  she  ?  Does  she  ?  "  said  Lucy,  less 
at  ease  now  than  she  had  been  at  any  moment.  "  Do 
you  know,  I  hardly  knew  what  she  said  or  did  not  say. 
Not  that  I  am  faint  again,  —  I  am  not  so  foolish ;  but 
perhaps  I  was  thinking  of  myself  more  highly  or  more 
carefully  than  I  ought  to  think." 

Harry  almost  bit  his  tongue  out.  He  would  have 
been  so  glad  to  say  that  nobody  could  think  highly 
enough  of  her,  or  to  take  that  chance  to  say  that  he 
thought  of  no  one  else.  But  still  the  terror  of  the 
reappearance  of  Miss  Davis  and  her  friend  subdued 
him.  He  even  affected  not  to  hear  what  Lucy  Sand- 
ford  said,  and  asked,  as  if  he  cared,  how  often  the 
Circle  met,  and  if  Miss  Davis's  friend  was  a  member. 
To  which  questions  Lucy  replied,  accurately  or  inaccu 
rately.  And  then  he  asked  what  the  Circle  was  for. 
And  as  Lucy  was  replying,  the  servant  announced  the 
carriage,  and  Anna  Davis  and  the  friend  appeared. 
"You  must  excuse  our  running  away,  Mr.  Merton; 
but,  in  truth,  we  shall  be  late  as  it  is,  and  Emily  has 
a  paper  to  read." 


282  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Harry  did  or  did  not  say  that  the  sooner  they  were 
gone  the  better.  He  tried  to  be  civil,  and  probably 
was.  If  Lucy  had  any  hope,  thought,  or  fear  that  he 
would  take  the  occasion  to  bid  her  good-evening,  she 
was  disappointed.  He  came  back  into  the  parlor  and 
fairly  took  her  hand  and  led  her  to  the  sofa. 

"  My  dear  Miss  Lucy,  I  am  so  glad  they  are  gone. 
I  have  waited  bravely,  because,  before  I  sleep  this 
night,  I  must  know  whether  I  am  a  fool  or  not.  Or 
let  me  put  it  better,  my  dear  Miss  Lucy.  I  spoke  as 
we  came  home  as  if  I  had  a  right  to  advise  you,  to 
warn  you,  to  beg  you  not  to  risk  your  life.  I  know 
and  knew  that  you  must  think  I  have  no  such  right. 
But  if  I  say  that  no  minute  of  my  life  passes  in  which 
I  do  not  think  of  you  and  pray  for  you ;  if  I  say  I  was 
overjoyed  to  see  you  to-day,  even  though  such  a  risk 
had  brought  us  together;  then  I  shall  earn  my  right, 
or  shall  make  my  excuse  for  putting  myself  into  your 
concerns.  I  cannot  help  it.  That  is,  all  my  life  will 
not  be  worth  living,  if  you  say  I  must  not  say  such 
things." 

There  had  been  just  so  much  eagerness  in  his  tone 
before  they  had  reached  the  house  that  Miss  Sandford 
was  not  wholly  unprepared  for  this  sudden  declara 
tion.  But  she  was  not  prepared  with  a  word  of  an 
swer.  Harry  had  had  the  long-drawn  hour  of  dinner 
to  know  that  he  would  speak,  and  to  ask  himself  what 
he  would  say.  The  man  had  his  rights,  however.  He 
had  respected  hers,  and  she  would  not  fail  in  respect 
ing  his.  So  she  tried  to  speak. 

She  looked  up  at  him,  —  sadly  was  it,  or  eagerly  ? 
The  boy  did  not  know.  She  tried  to  speak.  "I  — 
You —  It  is — "  She  bit  her  lip  and  grew  pale.  "I 
do  not  think  —  I  did  not  think  —  "  and  then  her 
head  fell  for  a  minute.  Then  she  looked  him  full  in 
the  face.  "Really,  Mr.  Merton  —  "  And  she  put  both 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  283 

her  hands  in  his,  and  smiled  with  a  face  alive  with 
sympathy  and  glad  with  joy. 

He  did  not  trouble  himself  for  any  more  reply  to 
what  she  had  said.  He  flung  his  arms  around  her 
and  kissed  her  again  and  again. 


284  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-SECOND. 
XXV. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  Nov.  2,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  have  to  write  you  about  some 
very  mixed-up  days,  because,  as  the  season  changes,  I 
find  I  must  arrange  my  winter  plans,  and  so  many 
different  views  come  up  before  me  and  so  many  things 
have  to  be  considered  that  I  grow  quite  bewildered. 
I  feel  more  and  more  thankful  to  Aunt  Martha  that 
she  arranged  this  pleasant  home  for  me  here,  which 
gives  me  time  and  opportunity  to  study  this  great  city 
and  to  try  to  decide  what  I  want  to  do.  You  know 
my  mother  has  always  said  that  her  principal  advice 
to  her  children  has  been,  "  Find  out  what  you  want  to 
do,  and  then  do  that."  We  have  always  declared  that, 
indeed,  this  first  decision  of  "  what  we  want  to  do  "  is 
the  most  difficult.  Yet  I  do  have  a  firm  conviction  of 
what  I  want  to  do,  but  I  am  moving  hither  and  thither 
to  find  out  how  I  had  better  do  it. 

I  have  told  you  how  interested  I  am  in  the  Swedish 
system  of  gymnastics,  and  I  had  an  opportunity  to  go 
one  afternoon  to  one  of  the  classes  at  the  Posse  Gym 
nasium.  This  is  in  the  Harcourt  Building  in  Irving- 
ton  Street,  where  many  prominent  artists  have  their 
studios.  I  did  not  find  Miss  Knowlton  at  home,  so  I 
have  not  yet  seen  her  summer  work,  which  is  always 
interesting.  In  the  hall  of  the  gymnasium  rooms  I 
found  a  large  class  of  children  from  the  Boston  public 
schools,  who  receive  free  instruction  at  the  gymnasium. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  285 

This  is  especially  a  normal  school  of  gymnastics,  in  the 
truest  sense  of  this  term,  and  the  teachers  who  are 
gaining  their  education  at  this  school  are  assistants  in 
conducting  this  class,  which  meets  twice  a  week.  Here 
were  two  hundred  and  fifty  children,  filling  the  hall 
with  life  and  animation;  but  when  the  signal  was 
given  they  fell  into  line,  ready  for  the  exercises. 
The  hall  is  large,  well-lighted  and  ventilated,  and 
fitted  up  with  all  the  Swedish  apparatus,  and  also 
with  chest  weights,  dumb  bells,  Indian  clubs  and  the 
like. 

It  was  most  interesting  to  see  the  method  of  the 
general  exercises,  marching  and  military  drill  forming 
a  part,  besides  the  especial  Swedish  exercises  for  every 
part  of  the  body,  all  carried  out  under  the  direction  of 
Baron  Posse  himself.  The  student-teachers,  mean 
while,  were  taking  charge  of  the  several  squads  of 
children  that  formed  the  whole  band,  the  children 
,  being  grouped  according  to  physical  proficiency,  and 
each  squad  having  two  or  more  normal  pupils  as  lead 
ers.  This  gives  these  students  admirable  practical  ex 
perience  as  teachers,  and  they  are,  besides,  called  upon 
from  time  to  time  to  take  charge  of  the  normal  class. 
They  have  also  the  advantage  of  a  special  course  of 
lectures  by  prominent  lecturers,  in  which  the  various 
gymnastic  systems  are  discussed,  examinations  are 
held,  and  lectures  and  recitations  are  given  by  Baron 
Posse,  introducing  the  study  of  medical  gymnastics, 
all  making  a  complete  -education  for  a  teacher,  and 
especially  needed  in  the  public  schools,  where  the  sys 
tem  is  widely  introduced.  I  heard  that  some  of  the 
teachers  take  their  pupils  into  the  school  yard  at  the 
time  of  such  exercises,  when  the  weather  permits.  It 
was  cheerful  to  see  the  bright  and  happy  faces  of  the 
children  as  they  went  through  it  all,  and  as  they  rushed 
from  the  general  exercises  to  the  special  exercises  in 


286  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

the  spacious  hall,  where  each  little  squad  could  be 
watched  over  by  its  teacher  in  trying  the  different  ap 
paratus  so  temptingly  placed. 

In  a  great  city  one  sees  so  many  different  kinds  of 
life.  Only  the  other  day  I  had  a  kind  invitation  from 
a  friend  to  go  to  see  one  of  the  peculiar  Jewish  cere 
monies.  It  was  a  most  interesting  occasion,  and  I  was 
very  grateful  for  the  opportunity.  We  went  to  the 
private  house  of  one  of  the  well-known  and  esteemed 
Jewish  families  of  Boston  for  the  celebration  of  the 
Feast  of  the  Tabernacles,  which  takes  place  in  Octo 
ber  and  continues  for  eight  days.  We  received  a  most 
kindly  and  hospitable  invitation  to  go  to  see  how  the 
occasion  was  celebrated.  It  is  the  harvest  festival, 
not  unlike  what  we  might  meet  with  at  one  of  our 
Thanksgivings  in  the  country.  We  were  ushered  in 
through  the  magnificently  furnished  house  to  the  open 
garden  beyond,  which  had  been  shut  in  as  a  tabernacle 
with  boughs  of  trees  for  a  roof.  These  were  all  hung . 
with  fruits  of  every  description,  making  a  gorgeous 
display.  Here  was  every  variety  of  fruit  and  vegeta 
bles  imaginable,  apples,  pears,  oranges,  bananas,  glow 
ing  squashes  and  pumpkins,  ears  of  corn,  masses  of 
grapes  drooping  everywhere  in  the  midst  of  the  green, 
and  great  sheaves  of  palms  shutting  all  in,  and  every 
thing  gay  with  color,  making  the  whole  place  brilliant, 
and  pictures  here  and  there  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
glow. 

And  crowds  of  friends  were  thronging  in  and  out; 
for  the  family  had  sent  invitations  to  everybody,  rich 
and  poor.  And  these  last  came  with  petitions  for  help 
to  the  liberal  host,  who  was  willing  to  stop  and  listen 
to  their  petitions  and  complaints  in  the  midst  of  all 
the  coming  and  going.  Everybody,  indeed,  was  re 
ceived  with  a  cordial  hospitality ;  the  delicious  fruit 
was  served  in  exquisite  china  to  every  comer;  and 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  287 

we  were  asked  to  go  over  the  house  and  admire  the 
choice  pictures  and  the  beautiful  adornments.  It  was 
an  occasion,  surely,  to  be  remembered  and  to  be  grate 
ful  for. 

I  could  not  but  contrast  it  with  our  occupation  the 
next  evening,  when,  by  invitation  of  Miss  Fenton,  I 
went  with  her  and  Mr.  Merton  to  a  lecture  before  the 
Theosophic  Society  on  the  "  Astral  Body."  It  seemed 
as  if  I  were  suddenly  called  upon  to  consider  the  two 
oldest  religions  in  the  world  in  two  days,  one  after  the 
other,  as  I  went  into  this  hall  and  saw  a  Hindu  image 
placed  before  me.  But  I  cannot  stop  to  tell  you  of 
this,  for  other  things  come  up. 

You  will  have  read  the  peaceful  part  of  the  begin 
ning  of  this  letter,  wondering,  I  imagine,  that  I  could 
begin  so  calmly  without  entering  upon  more  exciting 
events.  But  perhaps  it  is  as  well  that  the  journal  of 
those  days  was  written  earlier ;  for  I  am  sure  it  would 
be  hard  to  remember  what  happened  a  week  before, 
when  so  many  eventful  things  have  since  been  go 
ing  on. 

In  the  first  place,  I  will  and  must  speak  of  the 
wonderful  news  that  Cousin  Eupert  brought  to  me  of 
your  engagement.  It  was  the  very  evening  before  my 
South  Boston  expedition,  of  which  you  will  have 
learned,  because  it  has  become  now  so  great  a  part 
of  my  history.  Cousin  Rupert  declares  that  it  is  in 
the  newspapers,  but  I  cannot  believe  him.  Indeed,  I 
could  hardly  believe  him  when  he  told  me,  the  day 
before  that  expedition,  that  he  was  going  to  marry 
you!  —  and  that  you  are  the  "friend  in  the  West"  to 
whom  he  was  engaged !  I  confess  to  some  indigna 
tion  at  first  that  you  should  both  have  kept  all  this 
in  secrecy  from  me  so  long ;  but  I  can  understand 
that,  if  you  were  afraid  to  tell  your  mother  of  the 


288  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

matter  in  her  illness,  you  could  easily  be  unwilling 
to  write  of  it  even  to  me. 

Now  I  am  glad  that  all  is  going  to  be  so  happy  with 
you,  your  mother  better,  and  you,  indeed,  to  come  to 
Boston.  Kupert  has  been  talking  with  me  about  all 
your  plans,  and  I  am  astonished  at  them  all.  It  seems 
he  is  not  going  to  content  himself  with  apartments  in 
the  house  here  with  his  mother ;  but  he  has  absolutely 
persuaded  you  to  consent  to  a  house  on  the  water  side 
of  Beacon  Street, — one  of  the  beautiful  row  of  houses  I 
have  often  looked  at  with  admiration  as  I  walked  over 
Cambridge  Bridge  and  back.  I  approve  of  the  plan 
very  much,  my  dear,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  you 
and  Eupert  will  make  a  happy  home  there,  and  that 
it  will  be  just  the  place  for  the  true  hospitality  and 
the  liberal  kind  of  home  life  that  I  am  sure  Bostonians 
love. 

I  believe  I  am  amusing  myself  with  writing  upon 
your  affairs  because  I  am  not  used  to  talking  of  my 
own,  and  I  scarcely  know  how  to  write  of  them.  I  do 
not  wonder  now  that  you  found  it  hard  to  write  to  me 
of  your  engagement,  since  I  find  it  so  difficult  to  speak 
of  my  own  or  even  to  think  of  it;  and,  indeed,  I  hardly 
know  whether  to  believe  it  myself.  Eupert  will  have 
written  to  you  and  will  talk  to  you  about  it,  as  he  goes 
to  you  this  week,  and  I  have  promised  to  send  by  him 
a  special  note  to  tell  you  more  than  my  giddy  head  can 
say  now. 

And  it  was  Harry  that  wrote  the  whole  thing  first 
to  my  mother ;  for  I  could  not  quite  understand  it  my 
self  or  make  out  what  it  all  was.  In  fact,  it  seems 
long  ages  ago  since  that  evening  when  Eupert  confided 
to  me  all  your  interests  and  plans,  and  his,  too;  for 
that  was  the  very  evening  before  my  eventful  day. 

Since  then  Cousin  Eupert  and  Harry  have  learned 
to  know  each  other  and  to  like  and  respect  each  other 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  289 

much.  With  both  of  them  I  have  already  had  much 
to  say  about  that  fateful  visit  to  South  Boston.  We 
have  talked  over  and  over  the  events  of  that  expedi 
tion,  and  we  have  wondered  how  it  would  have  been 
if  it  had  been  different,  and  how  it  would  have  been 
the  same  if  it  had  been  different,  and  how  we  had 
rather  have  it  the  same,  but  perhaps  it  had  better 
have  been  different !  Did  you  ever  know  anything  so 
incoherent  ? 

But,  you  see,  I  did  go  over  to  South  Boston  all  alone, 
and  to  a  rough  part  of  the  town,  and  it  was  in  connec 
tion  with  my  Associated  Charities  duties ;  only  that 
is  not  my  district,  —  South  Boston,  I  mean,  — but  I  had 
promised  somebody  I  would  look  up  a  case  there.  One 
reason  I  wanted  to  go  is,  that  Anna  and  I  have  not,  or 
had  not,  quite  given  up  the  idea  of  creating,  as  it  were, 
a  "  University  Settlement "  of  ourselves.  For  we  have 
talked  of  establishing  ourselves  somewhere  in  one  of 
these  destitute  parts  of  the  town,  where  we  might 
make  a  happy  and  a  useful  home  centre  for  our  neigh 
bors  about  us.  So  I  thought  I  would  combine  this 
"  Charities  "  expedition  with  one  of  inquiry  into  that 
neighborhood.  And,  finally,  Anna  could  not  go  with 
me  that  afternoon,  so  I  set  forth  alone. 

Cousin  Rupert  declares  that  I  must  have  been  satis 
fied  that  the  neighborhood  was  destitute  and  forlorn 
enough  to  lead  me  to  desire  to  plant  myself  directly 
in  the  middle  of  its  delightful  inhabitants.  And  why 
not  ?  I  answer.  Surely  it  is  time  to  teach  these  little 
hoodlums  —  for  so  he  called  them  —  better  manners. 
And  for  my  part,  I  am  thankful  I  was  there  to  help 
those  three  Salvation  Army  girls  in  any  way  I  could. 
Of  course,  my  little  help  might  have  availed  nothing 
if  Harry  Merton  had  not  appeared,  and  if  he  had  not 
been  there,  strong,  brave  man  that  he  is. 

But  I  can't  help  saying  that  if  it  had  not  been 
19 


290  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

Harry  Merton  it  would  have  been  some  one,  —  some 
one  to  help  us.  For  there  were  those  brave  policemen ; 
and  one  who  took  charge  of  me.  But  that  strong  cry  of 
Harry's  it  was  that  gave  me  a  sense  of  relief,  though 
I  did  not  then  know  who  it  was.  I  am  not  sure  but 
what  I  felt  less  brave  myself  when  I  found  that  he 
was  there  to  protect  me.  Before  then  I  held  my 
courage  up  and  thought  with  pity  of  those  poor  boys 
who  knew  no  better  than  to  attack  us.  They  some 
how  reminded  me  of  my  Vacation  School  boys. 

I  really  did  not  mean  to  go  over  the  whole  story 
with  you,  since  Cousin  Rupert  will  tell  you  all ;  only 
you  will  want  to  know  my  view.  You  will  have  heard, 
too,  how  Harry  came  home  with  me,  and  how  Anna 
had  her  friend  Emily  Wentworth  staying  with  us; 
for  there  was  to  be  a  meeting  of  a  society  they  are 
interested  in,  and  I  was  to  have  gone  to  hear  Emily 
read  a  paper.  But  they  insisted  I  had  better  not  go 
out  again,  and  so  they  went  off  together.  I  was  glad 
Anna  was  there,  for  she  is  more  at  home  than  Emily, 
who  was  frightened  out  of  her  wits.  And  I  was 
almost  sorry  I  had  not  followed  them,  when  they 
went  away  and  I  found  Mr.  Merton  was  to  stay. 

But  I  must  tell  you  another  story,  —  that  Anna  is  to 
marry  Godfrey  Brand.  She  had  been  off  to  spend  the 
evening  and  night  before  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis,  for 
they  were  to  take  her  to  the  theatre  to  see  Modjeska, 
and  Mr.  Brand  joined  them  there.  I  believe  their  mat 
ters  were  not  settled  till  the  next  day ;  but  one  cannot 
tell  about  these  things.  You  can  imagine,  however, 
how  much  Cousin  Rupert  has  to  ask  about  what  has  be 
come  of  Anna's  and  my  plans  for  establishing  a  "  set 
tlement;"  and  he  wants  to  know  if  Godfrey  Brand 
and  Harry  Merton  belong  to  the  poorer  classes,  and 
if  we  are  proposing  to  elevate  them  and  give  them 
high-toned  amusements. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  291 

But  I  -will  leave  you  to  his  railleries,  and  I  will 
reserve  many  other  things  for  that  private  note  I 
have  promised  Cousin  Rupert  he  shall  carry  to  you ; 
for  he  says  that  my  letters  are  public  property,  that 
you  read  them  to  your  mother,  and  that  everybody 
knows  about  them. 

Aunt  Martha  is  very  kind  to  me.  She  is  to  arrive 
in  a  day  or  two,  and  meanwhile  she  has  written 
me  most  cordial  messages.  I  believe  that  Harry  in 
his  letters  to  her  and  to  my  mother  won  their  good 
graces  directly.  Before  this,  in  her  letter  telling  of 
Rupert's  engagement,  she  explained  how  the  rooms 
intended  for  Rupert  and  "his  bride"  would  now  be 
vacant,  and  she  should  insist  upon  my  staying  with 
her  for  the  winter.  How  it  will  be,  I  cannot  yet  tell. 
My  mother  is  to  come  for  a  visit  after  Aunt  Martha's 
return  —  and  then  ? 

Meanwhile  everybody  is  very  kind.  Miss  Fenton, 
who  is  deeply  interested  in  this  matter,  came  one  day, 
when  she  knew  Harry  was  away,  to  take  me  to  drive, 
actually  bringing  me  an  "  engagement "  present  of  a 
cup  and  saucer.  It  was  one  of  those  lovely  after 
noons  we  have  been  having  lately,  and  we  had  an 
exquisite  drive.  Miss  Fenton,  though  a  great  talker, 
knows,  as  the  morning  birds  do  in  spring,  how  to 
manage  her  silences.  We  went  out  through  my  park,  at 
the  end  of  Commonwealth  Avenue,  and  then  to  Chest 
nut  Hill  and  took  the  drive  round  the  Reservoir. 

The  next  day,  when  Harry  came,  looking  all  worn 
out,  —  I  think  they  do  work  him  too  hard  at  his  office, 
for  he  seems  to  have  to  do  some  of  everybody's  work, 
—  I  inspired  him  so  with  the  account  of  our  drive 
that  I  made  him  start  with  me  in  the  electric  car, 
which  took  us  to  Chestnut  Hill.  Here  Harry  was 
seized  with  a  fit  of  elegance  and  insisted  upon  taking 
a  carriage  to  drive  round  the  Reservoir  —  and  how 


292  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

we  talked  and  admired  the  gorgeous  colors  of  the 
leaves ! 

I  am  going  to  send  to  you  by  Eupert  the  book 
called  "Cecilia  de  Noel"  that  has  excited  us  all  so 
much.  I  do  not  know  that  he  will  let  you  have  any 
time  for  reading  it,  but  you  will  like  to  read  it  to  your 
mother.  I  wish  you  could  put  it  all  through  at  one 
sitting ;  for  it  is  the  final  chapter  that  gives  the  key 
note  to  the  whole.  Yet  all  the  way  through,  it  is 
most  wonderfully  and  wittily  written,  and  the  gospel 
of  the  closing  chapter  is  most  inspiring  and  elevating. 
I  believe  it  is  the  only  thing  I  could  have  read  just  at 
this  time,  when  the  whole  purpose  of  my  life  seems 
suddenly  to  be  changing,  —  only  not  really  changing, 
because  I  can  see  that  every  aim  is  still  to  be  the 
same.  Only,  instead  of  my  aim,  it  is  to  be  our  aim. 

It  seems  indeed  strange  to  have  somebody  else 
taking  up  my  work  with  me  so  intimately.  And  yet 
I  did  not  know  of  that  somebody's  existence  a  few 
months  ago.  I  had  been  thinking  I  was  quite  an  in 
dependent  sort  of  person,  and  I  flattered  myself  that 
I  could  take  care  of  myself,  and  I  was  looking  forward 
to  a  winter  when,  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I 
should  have  to  attend  to  my  own  concerns  and  make 
my  own  decisions. 

But  only  the  other  day  I  had  a  letter  from  home, 
telling  how  John  Jones,  a  nice  young  fellow  there, 
was  planning  to  go  to  San  Francisco.  He  had  decided 
to  go,  but  he  felt  rather  homesick  about  it,  as  he  does 
not  know  a  single  person  in  California.  I  was  talk 
ing  to  Harry  about  it,  and  I  said  I  thought  it  would 
be  as  hard  for  a  young  man  who  had  never  been  away 
from  his  country  home  as  it  was  for  a  young  woman, 
to  find  himself  among  strangers. 

Harry  immediately  said,  "  Let  me  go  to  the  '  Lend-a- 
Hand '  office  and  see  if  they  can't  send  word  for  some- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  293 

body  to  meet  Mm  when  he  arrives."  But  I  did  n't 
want  Harry  to  do  my  work,  and  then  I  remembered 
that  John  used  to  be  connected  with  the  "  Look -up 
Legion,"  which  did  good  temperance  work  among  the 
children  in  our  town,  and  I  asked  why  I  should  not 
go  too. 

Harry  was  surprised  to  find  I  had  never  been  to  the 
"  Lend-a-Hand  "  office  here,  and  declared  he  must  take 
me  there  directly.  So  the  other  morning  we  went 
together,  and  were  so  fortunate  as  to  find  both  the 
president  and  the  secretary  there.  Of  course,  the 
moment  I  told  the  story  they  knew  exactly  what  club 
to  write  to,  and  were  much  interested  in  John  Jones ; 
and,  in  fact,  the  secretary  wrote  a  letter  at  once. 
And  now,  when  he  arrives  in  San  Francisco  he  will 
find  some  one  waiting  at  the  dock  to  meet  him,  and, 
in  an  hour's  time,  I  venture  to  say,  he  will  be  quite 
reconciled  to  having  to  go  so  far  away  from  his  home. 
I  speak  confidently,  for  if  you  could  see  the  enthu 
siasm  of  that  office,  you  would  feel  as  we  did  when 
we  came  away,  —  that  the  world  is  very  small,  and 
that  all  its  inhabitants  are  brothers  and  sisters. 

We  went  to  the  "  Lend-a-Hand "  office  about  half- 
past  eleven.  The  president  said,  "  At  noon  we  have 
our  monthly  business  meeting,  and  if  you  would  like 
to  know  something  of  our  work  you  had  better  stay." 
Of  course,  we  felt  at  first  as  if  we  might  be  in  the 
way,  but  the  delightful  informality  and  hospitality  of 
that  office  overcame  all  scruples,  and  I  stayed  while 
Harry  went  to  speak  to  one  of  the  gentlemen  in  the 
outer  office. 

About  fifteen  ladies  were  present.  Some  were 
strangers  to  the  others,  but  interest  in  the  same  sort 
of  work  made  them  friends  from  the  start.  There 
was  evidently  no  time  to  lose,  and  it  was  amusing  to 
see  the  earnestness  with  which  each  one  would  make 


294  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

an  inquiry  with  regard  to  some  work  of  charity,  reform, 
or  education  in  which  she  was  especially  interested. 
"  What  is  the  news  from  the  infirmary  in  Alabama  ?  " 
"Has  money  enough  come  in  to  supply  a  trained 
nurse  ?  "  "  Have  you  read  what  the  Ogontz  Club  is 
doing  in  Chicago  ?"  "Have  the  rooms  been  secured 
for  the  '  Noon  Rest '  in  Boston  ? "  "  There  is  an 
other  letter  from  Kansas  asking  for  relief."  "Has 
any  letter  come  from  Florida  offering  a  home  to  the 
invalid  ? "  And  here  was  I  with  my  axe  out  in 
California.  You  won't  wonder  that  I  was  a  little 
dazed  for  a  moment ;  but  all  these  people  seemed  so 
accustomed  to  jumping  from  one  of  these  places  to 
another  that  I  soon  began  to  see  that  the  distances 
were  not  so  great. 

After  transacting  a  little  necessary  business  —  these 
clubs  have  the  least  machinery  of  any  clubs  I  ever 
knew  —  a  young  lady  came  in  from  Montgomery, 
Alabama.  It  seems  she  and  a  friend  opened  an  in 
dustrial  school  for  colored  women  and  children  there 
a  few  years  ago.  When  the  pupils  can  afford  to  pay 
they  do  so;  but  many  of  them  cannot,  and  some  of 
these  clubs  have  taken  scholarships  in  the  school. 
The  price  of  the  scholarships  is  but  eight  dollars  per 
year,  a  small  sum  for  the  amount  of  good  accom 
plished.  The  club  which  takes  the  scholarship  is  put 
in  communication  with  the  pupil  for  whom  it  pays, 
and  some  of  the  letters  received  from  the  little 
colored  girls  were  exceedingly  interesting. 

Miss  Beard  told  all  about  the  school  and  the  work 
that  it  is  doing.  Last  year  there  were  one  hundred 
and  ten  pupils,  from  seven  to  fifty  years  of  age,  and 
among  them  were  five  married  women.  After  Miss 
Beard  had  finished  her  talk  about  the  industrial 
school,  the  secretary  asked  the  ladies  if  they  knew  of 
positions  for  a  stenographer,  a  kindergartner,  a  jour- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  295 

nalist,  a  German  teacher,  an  industrial  teacher  at  the 
South,  and  others  which  I  have  forgotten.  Dr.  Hale, 
the  president  of  the  "  Lend-a-Hand  "  Clubs,  said 
laughingly,  "  Because  this  is  the  '  Lend-a-Hand ' 
office,  people  think  we  know  everything  ;  "  and  he  told 
some  funny  stories  which  I  will  not  repeat  here.  But 
this  thing  is  true,  that  the  "  Lend-a-Hand "  Clubs, 
established  some  twenty-one  years  ago,  do  a  great 
deal  of  work.  I  wonder  that  I  had  never  been  to  these 
rooms  before,  and  that  I  had  not  appreciated  the  work 
ings  of  these  clubs.  They  seem  to  be  an  organization 
that  minds  its  own  business  and  seeks  little  publicity. 
These  rooms  are  at  3  Hamilton  Place,  far  up  in  one 
of  the  higher  stories.  We  looked  out  from  the  win 
dows,  down  over  the  trees  of  the  Common,  into  the 
busy  street  filled  with  street  cars  and  throngs  of 
people,  and  down  even  upon  the  telegraph  and  tele 
phone  wires  that  are  uniting  all  the  great  cities  of  the 
world,  and  we  could  feel  how  the  whole  world  may  be 
united  as  one. 


296  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY-THIRD. 
XXVI. 

HARRY  TO  HIS  MOTHER. 

BOSTON,  Nov.  10,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  MOTHER,  —  The  long  letter  I  wrote  you 
last  week,  with  dear  Lucy's  in  the  same  cover,  has 
told  you  so  much  that  I  need  go  back  upon  the  history 
of  those  happy  days  only  to  say  that  every  day  is 
happier  and  happier,  as  we  see  life  open  before  us 
and  know  for  the  first  time  how  much  better  a  cart 
goes  on  two  wheels  than  it  does  on  one.  She,  dear 
child,  is  constantly  saying  that  it  is  a  comfort  and 
pleasure  to  her  to  have  some  one  to  rest  upon ;  and  for 
my  part,  it  seems  as  if  I  had  not  known  how  to  think, 
when  I  had  no  one  to  whom  I  could  tell  my  thoughts 
as  they  arose.  But  if  I  begin  in  this  strain  I  shall 
never  be  done,  and  you  and  the  children  will  want  to 
know  something  of  my  journal. 

Only  let  me  say  that  I  do  not  believe  in  long  en 
gagements.  I  do  not  think  you  do.  I  frighten  Lucy 
when  I  tell  her  how  little  I  believe  in  them.  And 
for  one,  I  am  already  looking  —  I  do  not  say  for  a 
flat ;  for  I  hate  flats.  I  call  them  all  tenement  houses, 
though  they  be  Charlesgate  or  the  Hotel  Agassiz.  I 
am  looking  for  a  little  five-room  house,  like  those  they 
have  in  Chicago,  where  Lucy  and  I  may  grind  one 
axe,  cook  one  slice  of  liver,  and,  as  Chancellor  Kent 
said,  have  two  cups,  two  saucers,  and  one  teaspoon. 
You  must  not  be  surprised  if  I  tell  you,  or  if  you 
hear,  that  I  have  one. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  297 

I  thought  I  was  seeing  something  of  the  social  life 
of  Boston,  or  what  I  believe  the  newspapers  call  its 
organized  life,  before.  But  these  girls  know  every 
thing  of  which  we  men  know  nothing.  Lucy  has 
been  living  in  a  sort  of  university  life.  She  talks  to 
me  about  education  in  athletics  and  aesthetics  and 
ethics  and  philology  and  geology  and  biology,  about 
concerts  and  recitals  and  rehearsals,  while  poor  I  had 
been  satisfying  the  cravings  of  an  undisciplined  mind 
by  going  to  see  Neil  Burgess  and  his  horses.  I  won 
der  if  you  have  read  Anstey's  last  novel,  "Tourma 
lin's  Time  Cheques."  The  hero  marries  a  girl  who 
puts  him  through  his  paces,  I  tell  you.  She  makes 
him  read  Buckle,  even  to  the  third  volume,  if  there 
is  any.  I  tell  Lucy  that  she  is  improving  my  mind 
in  the  same  way.  But  somehow  she  does  it  so  agree 
ably  that  I  am  quite  willing  to  be  improved.  Any 
way,  there  is  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  in  going  to 
one  of  these  places  and  coming  back  with  her,  instead 
of  sitting  in  the  gallery  and  looking  over  the  house  to 
see  if  possibly  she  is  present.  I  really  think  that  I 
shall  get  a  great  deal  more  good  out  of  this  winter 
than  I  possibly  could  have  got  without  a  guide  so 
sympathetic;  and,  indeed,  what  she  does  not  know, 
dear  Mother,  is  not  worth  knowing. 

And  now  I  do  not  have  to  ask  any  Miss  Fenton  or 
Miss  Brand  or  Miss  Davis  or  Miss  Brown  or  Miss 
Jones  or  Miss  Smith  to  go  with  us.  We  are  our  own 
chaperons,  and  I  do  not  think  anybody  looks  at  us  in 
the  street,  or  that  anybody  knows  we  are  engaged. 

You  are  so  enthusiastic  about  "The  Light  of  Asia" 
and  "The  Light  of  the  World"  that  you  will  want 
to  know,  and  the  girls  will  want  to  know,  about  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold's  readings.  That  was  really  the  first 
time  that  Lucy  and  I  went  together  anywhere  in 
form.  For  she  had  been  very  much  occupied  with 


298  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

different  friends  who,  before  the  engagement  was 
even  announced  to  the  public,  came  round  with  their 
congratulations.  And,  indeed,  she  and  I  were  too 
much  occupied  in  sitting  and  talking  together  in  the 
dark  parlor  to  want  much  to  go  to  public  occasions. 
But  she  roused  up  last  Friday  and  said  it  would  be  a 
shame,  as  Sir  Edwin  Arnold  was  to  be  here  for  two 
days  only,  for  us  not  to  hear  him,  and  she  was  not 
willing  to  be  responsible  to  you  if  I  missed  him.  So 
I  got  tickets  and  we  went.  I  forget  whether  I  have 
told  you  about  the  Music  Hall.  The  reading  was 
there.  I  suppose  they  knew  the  audience  would  be 
large,  and  so  they  had  nearly  the  largest  hall  in 
Boston.  I  think  it  was  too  large.  I  should  think  Sir 
Edwin  would  a  great  deal  rather  read  twice  in  a 
smaller  room  than  once  in  such  a  great  cavern  as  that 
is.  However,  his  voice  is  strong  and  I  had  no  diffi 
culty  in  hearing.  Some  people  who  sat  farther  back 
complained  that  they  lost  some  of  the  low  tones. 
This  would  be  a  pity;  for  with  a  great  deal  of 
action  and  energy,  he  still  kept  a  good  deal  of  the 
conversational  tone  which  gives  all  the  value  to 
narrative. 

His  pictures  do  not  by  any  means  do  him  justice. 
They  give  you  an  idea  more  than  his  face  does,  I 
think,  of  an  old  soldier,  or,  perhaps,  a  hard-worn 
statesman;  but  the  impression  of  his  face  is  very 
pleasing.  Still,  it  is  all  marked  with  care.  I  wonder 
whether  that  has  anything  to  do  with  his  having 
lived  in  a  tropical  country,  and,  I  suppose,  having  had 
very  critical  work  thrown  on  him  in  young  life.  Be 
cause,  you  know,  he  was  in  the  English  East  India 
service,  and  that  is  the  way  that  he  knows  all  these 
awful  languages  and  about  all  these  different  religions. 
He  is  a  man  who  did  not  have  to  study  them,  out  of 
books  merely,  but  learned  them  from  the  people  he 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY,  299 

was  with ;  and  to  him  a  Sudra  or  a  pariah  is  just  as 
much  a  matter  of  course  as  old  Aunt  Dinah  is  to  you, 
or  any  tramp  who  comes  along  and  asks  for  break 
fast.  There  was  something  about  the  naturalness 
with  which  he  spoke  in  his  little  explanations  of  East 
Indian  things  that  made  us  feel  as  if  we  were  almost 
"  Easterners  "  ourselves. 

Somebody  told  me  that  he  had  Italian  blood.  I 
think  if  I  had  not  been  told  so  I  should  have  guessed 
it  from  the  vividness  and  energy  of  his  gesture,  and 
indeed  of  all  his  "  delivery."  Don't  you  remember 
what  Mrs.  Butler  was  telling  us  about  the  Italian 
improvisatory  —  how  they  made  the  story  real  by  their 
action  even  if  you  did  not  understand  a  word  of  the 
language  ?  It  is  by  just  such  action,  which  is  intense 
in  its  quickness  and  vivacity  all  the  way  through,  that 
Sir  Edwin  Arnold  makes  the  ballads  or  narratives  so 
entertaining.  The  first  thing  he  read  was  the  address 
of  Buddha  at  the  end  of  "  The  Light  of  Asia."  I  don't 
think  I  should  have  chosen  it  for  a  beginning ;  but 
I  can  see  that  it  is  immensely  valuable  as  a  key  to 
the  whole  system.  But  Lucy  and  I  liked  more  the 
ballads  and  narrative  pieces,  which  are  wonderfully 
bright  and  strong. 

Then  Saturday  afternoon  is  always  a  half-holiday 
with  us,  —  the  people  at  the  office  are  very  good  about 
that,  —  and  we  took  a  train  out  of  town  to  see  some 
cousins  or  something  of  Lucy  to  whom  she  wanted  to 
announce  our  great  news  in  person.  They  are  two 
sick  ladies,  who  never  go  out  and  to  whom  for  some 
reason  or  other  she  thought  it  was  not  best  to  write. 
So  we  had  that  lovely  day  —  I  wonder  if  it  were  as 
lovely  with  you  —  in  the  country,  and  as  there  was 
no  cab  at  the  station  we  had  a  long  walk  together. 
I  am  glad  she  is  as  good  a  walker  as  she  is.  When 
we  came  back  we  got  out  at  the  Huntington  Avenue 


300  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

station,  as,  by  the  way,  almost  all  the  passengers  do 
now,  —  they  will  have  to  make  their  great  station 
there, — just  as  the  sun  was  going  down.  I  am  be 
ginning  to  imderstand  now  why  the  real  old  Boston 
man  insists  that  there  are  no  sunsets  like  those  over 
his  beloved  Back  Bay.  There  is  no  longer  any  bay, 
but  the  sunsets  still  linger. 

Each  of  us  gave  up  our  own  church  on  Sunday  to 
go  to  hear  Father  Hall  speak.  I  had  met  Father 
Hall  more  than  once.  He  was  at  the  office  once 
about  some  clothes-pins  he  wanted  for  some  of  his 
charities,  and  I  was  detailed  to  talk  with  him.  He 
always  wears  what  you  or  I  would  call  a  nightgown, 
though  it  is  not  a  nightgown,  —  I  mean  a  long,  black, 
clerical  robe,  —  and  I  think  this  prejudices  you  against 
him  at  first.  But  he  is  that  straightforward  sort  of 
person  that  calls  a  spade  a  spade,  and  does  not  think 
of  himself  more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think,  and 
thus  attracts  you  at  once.  What  he  does  not  know 
about  poverty  in  Boston  is  not  worth  knowing,  and 
his  relationship  with  all  sorts  of  people,  rich  and 
poor,  is  frank  and  unaffected  and  interesting.  The 
sermon  was  after  your  own  heart.  There  was  no 
nonsense  about  an  authoritative  church  or  form  or 
formula  about  it ;  it  was  simply  a  sermon  about  our 
being  sons  of  God.  I  have  noticed  that  some  ritual 
ists  are  a  little  shy  about  using  that  particular  phrase, 
but  Father  Hall  was  not.  And  another  thing  I  liked 
was  that  he  said  nothing  about  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  is  called  away  from  Boston.  It 
seemed  as  if  he  wanted  to  have  his  last  words  words 
which  should  always  be  remembered,  and  I  am  sure 
they  always  will  be. 

In  the  afternoon  we  were  at  quite  another  place. 
It  was  an  audience  of  what  you  would  have  called 
"Jerusalem  wild-cats,"  I  think;  and  Mr.  Champer- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  301 

noon,  who  was  there,  said  it  was  quite  like  one  of  the 
old-fashioned  antislavery  audiences  of  fifty  years  ago. 
It  seems,  for  I  am  telling  you  all 'this  at  second  hand 
from  Lucy's  information,  that  they  have  organized 
what  they  call  a  social  institute  or  some  such  thing 
for  the  systematic  study  of  such  social  problems  as 
Mr.  Bellamy  and  Henry  George  and  the  people  who 
have  abolished  the  poll  tax  and,  indeed,  all  the  more 
serious  politicians  are  discussing.  I  never  should  have 
heard  of  this  in  the  world  if  it  had  not  been  for  Lucy. 
But  she  was  quite  indignant  that  I  should  live  in 
a  city  like  this  and  be  satisfied  to  eat  its  bread  and 
butter,  as  she  said,  without  knowing  what  its  word  for 
the  present  or  the  future  is.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  she  used  any  such  grand  phrase  as  this,  but  after 
hearing  these  people  talk  I  feel  as  if  I  ought  to  get 
into  the  swing  of  the  dialect.  It  did  not  seem  to  me 
that  it  promised  very  well  for  the  new  civilization  that 
we  waited  fifteen  minutes  before  anything  began.  But 
it  seems  that  half  the  speakers  who  were  announced 
had  either  forgotten  it  or  had  not  put  in  an  appear 
ance  at  all,  and  they  asked  plaintively  from  the  plat 
form  from  time  to  time  if  Miss  Conway  had  come 
in.  Who  Miss  Conway  is,  I  am  sure  I  do  not  know ; 
only  that  she  was  not  at  the  place  where  she  was 
announced. 

However,  I  did  not  care  what  happened  so  long  as 
I  was  sitting  with  Lucy  with  a  good  chance  to  talk  to 
her;  and,  as  Miss  Tryphena  Dexter  said  of  the  lecture 
on  the  Correlation  of  Forces,  it  was  warm  there  and 
the  seats  were  comfortable,  and  she  would  as  lief  be  in 
one  place  as  another,  she  said,  and  particularly  liked 
a  place  where  she  did  not  have  to  pay  for  her  fuel 
and  her  light.  Lucy  and  I  had  not  come  to  this  pass 
in  our  housekeeping,  but  we  sat  out  at  the  end  of 
a  settee,  where  we  could  talk  to  each  other  without 


302  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

being  heard,  and  by  and  by  the  officers  and  speakers 
came  upon  the  platform.  Your  old  hero,  Colonel  Hig- 
ginson,  spoke  first,  and  he  speaks  wonderfully  well. 
In  the  first  place,  he  is  a  gentleman  through  and 
through ;  you  can  see  that.  In  the  second  place,  he 
knows  what  he  is  going  to  say.  And  in  the  third 
place,  he  says  it.  I  should  say  that  the  people  who 
go  to  such  places  merely  to  see  high  and  lofty  tumbling 
would  be  at  the  beginning  displeased  by  the  quietness 
of  his  manner ;  but  even  those  people  must  be  inter 
ested  in  the  simplicity  and  frankness  of  the  man's 
talk.  They  had  given  out  as  a  subject  "  Literature  and 
Reform."  I  rather  think  that  was  because  they  wanted 
three  or  four  people  connected  with  literature  to  speak, 
and  they  thought  this  would  be,  as  we  say  at  the 
office,  a  good  enough  peg  to  string  the  line  from.  But 
Colonel  Higginson  took  it  in  a  very  unaffected  way  as 
an  opportunity  to  speak  of  the  relations  between  the 
literature  of  the  United  States  and  reform,  particu 
larly  in  connection  with  antislavery  matters. 

He  said  something  about  Theodore  Parker  which  will 
interest  you.  He  said  that  if  there  had  been  no  anti- 
slavery  or  any  great  cause  for  him  to  take  up,  he 
would  have  been  a  most  extraordinary  literary  man. 
He  said  his  memory  was  so  absolutely  accurate  that 
he  would  take-down  a  book  that  he  had  not  seen  for 
twenty  years  and  turn  directly  to  the  page  on  which 
there  was  a  particular  passage  which  he  wanted  to 
show  you;  that  he  had  that  gift  of  reading  books 
rapidly  and  possessing  himself  of  their  contents  and 
remembering  just  what  the  contents  were  to  a  degree 
which  startled  everybody  who  talked  with  him,  and 
which  made  him  a  living  authority  on  subjects  of  the 
first  interest.  I  had  myself  once  or  twice  taken  out 
from  the  Public  Library  a  book  which  belonged  to  the 
Parker  collection  there,  and  I  had  noticed  how  you  oc- 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  303 

casionally  met  a  word  in  his  own  handwriting,  which 
showed  the  thoroughness  of  his  reading.  It  was  very 
interesting  to  hear  Colonel  Higginson's  account  of  the 
method  in  which  he  worked. 

Colonel  Higginson's  speech  closed  with  a  sort  of 
parallel  or,  if  you  please,  contrast  of  Henry  George 
and  Bellamy.  I  never  could  read  Henry  George  my 
self,  and  I  have  tried  it  a  good  many  times;  but 
Colonel  Higginson  says  that  his  style  is  perfect,  and 
that  no  one  can  escape  the  clearness  of  his  logic.  It 
seems  that  his  views  and  Bellamy's  are  not  the  same ; 
and  Colonel  Higginson  was  very  funny  as  he  spoke  of 
his  own  difficulty  in  reconciling  the  opinions  of  two 
writers  for  both  of  whom  he  had  so  much  esteem. 
Every  way  the  speech  was  an  interesting,  and,  as  dear 
old  Dr.  Primrose  would  have  said,  a  valuable  one,  and 
I  was  glad  that  Lucy  had  taken  me  there. 

Then  Dr.  Hale  spoke.  You  know  how  much  I  have 
had  to  do  with  him,  and  how  much  I  like  him.  It  was 
clear  he  was  interested  in  what  he  was  saying,  too,  but 
his  prophecy  was  not  at  all  about  this  country,  but 
about  the  general  position  of  reformers  in  their  con 
nection  with  literature.  That  is  to  say,  he  began  by 
stating  that  the  people  who  were  connected  with  or 
ganized  institutions  and  wanted  to  have  the  carriage 
still  run  in  the  old  ruts  were  not  apt  to  be  the  people 
who  made  the  proclamations  of  improvement.  As  he 
put  it,  the  priests  were  a  little  apt  to  crucify  the 
prophets  when  they  got  hold  of  them. 

Beginning  in  this  strain,  he  spoke,  —  well,  I  should 
think  twenty  minutes,  perhaps  more,  in  illustration  of 
it  in  various  lines.  You  would  have  been  delighted 
to  hear  the  eulogy  which  he  pronounced  on  Howells 
at  the  end.  He  said  that  Howells  had  it  perfectly  in 
his  power  to  keep  on  all  his  life  making  accurate  and 
exquisite  pictures  of  the  things  he  saw,  just  as  a  school- 


304  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

girl  who  is  pleased  with  the  bright  colors  of  a  tulip 
gets  a  paint-box  and  puts  those  bright  colors  on  paper 
and  calls  that  a  picture.  But,  he  said,  Howells  had 
not  been  satisfied  in  the  least  with  this  mere  presenta 
tion  or  re-presentation  of  the  objects  before  him,  and 
that  now  he  never  wrote  a  page  which  did  not  have  a 
valuable  lesson  for  the  people  who  wanted  to  uplift 
humanity  or,  as  Dr.  Hale  himself  says  so  often,  bring 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  said  that  Howells  did  not 
seem  to  him  to  care  whether  people  liked  to  read  what 
he  wrote  or  not,  so  he  could  bring  in,  by  whatever 
means,  something  which  would  make  the  world  a  better 
world  and  a  happier  world.  You  know  how  much  I 
like  Howells ;  so  I  was  very  glad  that  Dr.  Hale  and  I 
are  at  one  in  that,  — as,  to  tell  the  truth,  we  have  been 
in  a  good  many  other  things. 

That  evening,  in  the  wildness  of  what  you  used  to 
call  "Sunday  dissipation,"  we  went  to  the  Second 
Church  to  their  vesper  service.  We  had  to  go  early, 
because  there  is  a  crowd  and  you  do  not  get  a  seat  un 
less  you  go  early,  and  I  did  not  want  to  make  Lucy 
stand.  It  is  a  devout,  sympathetic  service,  and  in  this 
instance  Dr.  De  ISTormandie,  who  is  one  of  the  newer 
men  here,  but  a  man  whom  everybody  likes,  conducted 
it,  and  conducted  it  with  great  sincerity.  It  is  this 
sort  of  thing,  dear  Mother,  which  I  think  you  and  the 
children  lose,  and  which  makes  me  wish  you  would 
come  down  and  spend  the  winter  here  another  year. 

Monday  night  we  went  to  the  Lowell  Institute.  I 
told  Lucy  it  must  be  very  different  from  what  it  was 
in  your  time.  The  hall  is  the  large  hall  of  the  Insti 
tute  of  Technology.  It  is  called  Huntington  Hall,  from 
a  rich  broker  who  gave  them  a  lot  of  money.  Lucy 
had  got  two  tickets  by  sending  some  of  her  admirers 
to  stand  for  her.  She  says  that  I  shall  have  to  do 
this  for  her  in  the  future.  If  you  are  real  "  children 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  305 

of  the  public  "  and  have  no  tickets,  you  go  and  wait 
outside,  as  if  you  were  Peris  at  the  gate  of  Paradise. 
Then,  two  minutes  before  the  lecture  begins,  the  men 
who  take  the  tickets  retire  and  you  rush  in  without 
any.  At  the  same  time  those  ticket  people  who  had 
seats  rush  for  the  empty  seats  which  are  better  than 
theirs,  so  that  it  is  a  sort  of  game  of  Puss-in-the- 
Corner. 

You  know  well  enough  that  I  should  never  have 
gone  had  not  Lucy  been  going.  But  all  the  same,  I 
was  interested  and  glad  I  went.  The  lecture  was 
about  meteorites ;  that  is,  on  the  substances  they  are 
made  of,  largely  iron  by  the  way,  and  on  the  internal 
structure  of  the  mass,  which  is  very  curious.  The  last 
fifteen  minutes  were  given  to  stereopticon  pictures, 
which  gave  several  curious  points  of  structure  better, 
I  think,  than  if  you  had  had  the  meteorites  in  your 
hand.  Lucy  had  been  to  all  the  other  lectures,  so  she 
was  able  to  "  coach  "  me.  I  need  n't  say  it  was  a  very 
pleasant  evening. 

But,  really,  my  dear  Mother,  I  will  not  try  to  go  on 
in  this  talk  about  outside  things  for  which  you  and  I 
just  now  care  so  little.  Really,  I  am  living  in  a  new 
life  all  the  time.  I  see  out  of  different  eyes,  and  what 
ever  I  hear  has  a  different  sound.  I  do  not  want  to 
write  about  lectures  and  concerts,  and  I  do  not  believe 
that  you  want  to  have  me ;  and  I  do  not  want  to  write 
about  Lucy  either.  I  want  to  talk  about  her,  or  to  talk 
with  her.  or,  better  than  either,  to  have  you  see  her 
and  know  her  and  love  her,  as  I  am  sure  you  will. 
Did  she  not  write  you  a  pretty  letter  ?  And  she  was 
so  pleased,  dear  Mother,  with  the  nice  answer  you 
wrote  to  her. 

Now  do  you  not  see  that  the  best  way  of  all  will  be 
for  you  to  come  down  here  now  ?  I  am  sure  that  the 
girls  and  Nahum  can  run  the  machine,  and  I  am  sure 


306  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

that  they  will  urge  you  to  come.  You  were  coming 
any  way  as  soon  as  the  first  of  March  came  in,  and  it 
will  be  a  great  deal  better  for  you  to  come  now.  Lucy 
thinks  so  as  well  as  I.  She  does,  seriously.  There 
are  ever  so  many  things  that  she  wants  to  consult  you 
about  in  her  plans  for  the  winter,  or  our  plans  for  the 
winter,  and  really,  she  will  not  be  half  satisfied  unless 
she  has  you  at  hand.  Then  you  can  tell  her  lots  of 
things  that  she  ought  to  know,  and  can  keep  an  eye  on 
her,  so  that  she  shall  not  work  too  hard  at  her  old 
schools,  and  so  that  her  feet  and  all  shall  be  right  in 
wet  weather,  and  lots  of  other  things  that  nobody  else 
will  understand  half  as  well  as  you  will. 

Mrs.  Metcalf  has  a  large  room  with  an  alcove,  the 
same  that  Mrs.  Ireson  had  and  that  was  left  suddenly 
unoccupied  when  Mrs.  Ireson  went  to  Sitka.  It  has  a 
south  sun,  looks  out  on  a  little  court  that  was  made 
when  people  played  croquet,  and,  for  a  Boston  room,  is 
very  cheerful.  You  can  bring  down  as  many  of  your 
own  things  as  you  like.  Then  every  evening  I  will 
take  you  round  with  Lucy  to  any  of  the  shows  or  sights 
or  improving  assemblies  where  you  would  like  to  go. 
And  daytimes  I  know  Lucy  will  come  in  and  spend 
half  her  time  with  you,  while  I  am  selling  clothes-pins 
for  the  common  cause. 

There !  I  have  not  told  you  how  good  they  have 
been  to  me  at  the  office  since  they  heard  of  the  en 
gagement.  Every  one  of  the  gentlemen  has  spoken  to 
me,  even  the  president,  and  I  am  to  have  a  rise  at 
New  Year.  By  way  of  special  courtesy,  I  have  been 
told  that  I  need  not  carry  any  letters  to  the  post-office, 
and  a  special  boy  is  detailed  to  do  my  typewriting  for 
me.  I  do  not  get  quite  used  to  having  a  "slavey,"  but 
I  dare  say  I  shall.  Any  way,  if  you  will  only  come 
down,  dear  old  Mother,  you  will  see  that  we  have 
plenty  of  time  to  put  you  through  and  to  show  you 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND   LUCY.  307 

everything.  As  for  Lucy,  she  is  going  all  through 
the  Temperance  Convention,  and  I  tell  her  she  will 
get  so  intimate  with  marchionesses  and  duchesses  that 
she  will  have  nothing  to  say  to  me.  But  really,  the 
only  duchess  is  Lady  Henry  Somerset.  Lucy  will  tell 
vou  all  about  her  in  her  letter. 
Dear  Mother,  I  am 

Always  yours, 

HABRY. 


308  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 


CHAPTEE  TWENTY-EOUETH. 

XXVII. 

LUCY  TO  KATE. 

BOSTON,  Nov.  12,  1891. 

MY  DEAR  KATE,  —  I  find  it  difficult  to  write  you 
any  kind  of  a  letter,  for  I  have  so  many  different 
things  to  tell  you  of  that  I  hardly  know  how  to  choose 
among  them,  and  I  cannot  yet  write  you  of  my  own 
affairs  because  they  are  still  so  unsettled.  But  you 
tell  me  that  my  letters  are  of  great  interest  to  your 
mother  who,  being  an  old  Bostonian,  likes  to  hear  of 
Boston  things  even  from  so  new  a  Bostonian  as  I  am. 
I  feel  as  if  just  now  there  was  a  little  pause  in  affairs 
before  my  mother  comes  for  a  promised  visit  to  Aunt 
Martha.  And  Mrs.  Merton  is  also  coining  to  Boston, 
and  after  that  every  moment  will  be  filled  in.  I 
shrink  from  seeing  Mrs.  Merton,  though,  indeed,  I 
ought  not  to,  for  she  has  written  me  such  kindly 
letters,  and  I  know  I  shall  feel  happier  after  I  have 
seen  her. 

Meanwhile  the  time  is  very  busily  filled  in.  We 
go  to  everything  together,  Harry  and  I,  but  of  course 
we  cannot  really  go  to  "  everything  "  that  is  going  on 
in  Boston ;  yet  it  does  make  a  chance  for  being  with 
each  other  in  the  midst  of  all  we  see,  and  we  look 
upon  everything  in  a  new  light  together.  I  wish  I 
could  have  written  you  a  journal  of  all  we  have  done, 
as  you  would  be  astonished  to  learn  how  much  there 
is  to  do. 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  309 

We  went  again,  the  other  day,  to  see  Miss  Tryphena 
Dexter.  She  amuses  us  very  much  with  her  remarks 
about  the  newspapers.  She  says  that  after  reading 
the  deaths  and  marriages  in  each  day's  paper,  she 
looks  at  the  accidents.  "  I  am  almost  sure,"  she  says, 
"  that  I  shall  find  my  name  some  day,  as  an  old  lady 
knocked  down  by  a  herdic  at  the  corner  of  Park 
Square."  And  she  also  reads  the  Court  Calendar 
carefully  to  see  what  damages  the  old  people  get  that 
are  knocked  down.  She  wonders  very  much  at  seeing 
so  often  a  statement  of  "jury  out,"  because  she 
thinks  they  ought  to  be  attending  to  their  business 
more  steadily  and  that  after  they  are  sworn  in,  they 
ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  go  out. 

Aunt  Martha,  meanwhile,  is  at  home,  and  Cousin 
Maria,  and  both  of  them  most  kind  and  cordial  in 
their  care  and  interest  for  me.  Cousin  Maria  says 
she  never  knew  so  much  about  Boston  as  I  have  man 
aged  to  find  out ;  but  then  it  is  the  "  summer  "  Boston 
and  not  the  "  winter  "  one,  which  has  hardly  begun 
yet.  But  they  are  very  busy  already  with  wedding 
receptions,  marriage  occasions  at  church,  etc. 

Some  muddy  days  came  just  before  this  lovely 
weather,  and  I  avoided  the  street  cars.  In  walking, 
I  can  manage  to  pick  my  way  on  the  sidewalks 
and  crossings  so  that  I  can  reach  a  friend's  house 
with  even  my  boots  clean  and  my  skirts  quite  free 
from  mud.  But  it  is  hopeless  to  be  free  from  mud,  if 
I  trust  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  street  car,  —  that 
is,  of  its  driver.  I  think  he  has  some  impulse  to  im 
prove  upon  the  Aldermen's  rule,  printed  in  street 
cars,  "  to  stop  at  the  further  crossing ;  "  for  he  always 
goes  "further"  and  regularly  leaves  one  in  a  mud- 
puddle.  I  have  heard  that  the  Philadelphia  street-car 
drivers  are  very  careful  to  stop  just  on  the  crossing. 
I  wish  the  drivers  here  could  go  to  Philadelphia  for 


310  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

their  education,  and  learn  how  to  "  bring  up  "  at  least 
within  Iqaping  distance  of  the  crossing.  I  counted  up 
the  other  day,  when  I  took  the  street  cars  frequently 
in  my  hurry,  that  out  of  six  times  descending  from 
the  cars,  I  was  left  five  times  in  a  mud-puddle  and 
only  once  within  stepping  distance  of  the  crossing- 
stones.  These  crossings,  indeed,  are  perilous  places, 
with  an  electric  car,  perhaps,  approaching  in  either 
direction.  I  usually  select  passing  between  two  horse 
cars,  trusting  to  the  supposed  humanity  of  a  horse, 
which  prefers  not  to  step  on  a  human  being,  and 
might  spare  one  from  being  crushed. 

Perhaps  you  may  detect  from  the  handwriting  that 
I  did  not  write  the  paragraph  above  enclosed.  Cousin 
Maria  came  in  to  summon  me  away  —  "  Mr.  Merton 
below"  —  and  when  she  saw  my  paper  on  my  desk 
she  perfidiously  added  the  above,  declaring  she  had 
heard  me  say  just  such  things. 

I  was  not,  however,  summoned  to  Mr.  Merton,  but 
to  two  small  boys  who  proved  to  be  Vacation  School 
boys  that  happened  to  have  a  half-holiday  out,  from  a 
broken  furnace  in  their  school  or  something  of  the 
sort.  Aunt  Martha  kindly  suggested  I  should  take 
them  to  the  Art  Museum  to  see  the  pictures  by  Wal 
ter  Crane  exhibited  there,  and  furnished  me  with 
tickets  for  them  and  for  myself.  So  I  deserted  my 
letter,  and  a  long  time  has  elapsed  before  I  could 
return  to  it.  The  exhibition  of  the  Walter  Crane 
pictures  is  delightful  for  the  children  as  well  as  for 
everybody.  At  first  I  was  afraid  it  might  be  above 
the  heads  of  my  small  boys,  but  I  was  pleased  to 
find  how  many  of  the  old  stories  that  are  illustrated 
by  the  pictures  they  knew  about.  I  went  round 
with  them,  making  them  read  the  whole  of  the  story 
where  Ve  could,  and  they  were  delighted.  I  was 
enchanted  myself  to  see  the  original  drawings  of  the 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  311 

beloved  "Toy  Book,"  on  which  I  was  brought  up, 
with  its  Cinderella  and  Forty  Thieves  and  the  Noah's 
Ark,  A,  B,  C,  etc.  Here  were  the  original  sketches 
of  «  My  Mother "  and  of  «  Blue  Beard,"  too ;  and  I 
was  delighted  with  some  drawings  for  a  new  book 
that  has  just  appeared,  "  Queen  Summer,"  with  such 
exquisite  figures  of  all  the  different  flowers  personified. 
My  boys,  of  course,  were  delighted  with  Ali  Baba  and 
the  Forty  Thieves,  though  they  had  not  been  before 
acquainted  with  Puss  in  Boots.  So  I  went  through  it 
all  with  them,  and  the  story  of  the  Marquis  of  Carabas 
delighted  them  ;  and  after  they  had  begun  to  find  out 
how  they  could  trace  along  the  different  stories,  they 
rushed  from  one  to  the  other  case  with  delight,  and 
at  the  same  time  behaved  themselves  very  nicely  and 
quietly. 

Before  we  left,  Harry  himself  appeared.  He  had 
been  to  the  house  for  me,  and  Aunt  Martha  informed 
him  where  he  would  find  me.  So  he  could  help  me 
with  the  boys,  and  in  getting  them  away,  which  we 
found  a  difficult  task ;  for,  of  course,  they  wanted  to 
go  wandering  all  over  the  Art  Museum.  I  could  only 
get  them  off  by  promising  that  I  would  come  with 
them  some  Saturday  and  take  them  all  over  the 
Museum.  But  Harry  added  a  crowning  touch  to  their 
pleasure,  after  we  came  out,  by  taking  us  all  to  see 
the  finished  part  of  the  new  Public  Library  building. 
There  has  been  an  exhibition  there,  which  I  did  not 
get  a  chance  to  go  to,  so  I  was  very  glad  when  Harry 
found  some  one  to  let  us  in  and  I  could  see  the  inside 
of  this  beautiful  building.  We  went  up  into  the  mag 
nificent  hall  that  looks  out  from  the  front  of  the 
building,  and  we  quite  longed  to  have  it  all  finished 
and  occupied.  It  will  be  a  bit  of  education  almost, 
without  its  books. 

We   looked   out   from  its  front  windows  into  the 


312  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

handsome  square  below,  and  decided  that  this  Copley 
Square  is  perhaps  now  the  most  beautiful  part  of 
Boston.  There  is,  indeed,  the  magnificent  view  from 
below  the  State  House  at  the  head  of  Park  Street  and 
Beacon  Street,  where  one  can  look  down  the  Beacon 
Street  Mall  under  its  splendid  arch  of  elms.  We 
have  always  admired  our  wide  street  of  elms  at 
Astney,  but  it  cannot  quite  compare  with  this  beau 
tiful  row  of  trees  that  forms  a  leafy  arch  down 
Beacon  Street  to  Charles  Street.  And  yet  this  won 
derful  archway  of  trees  is  threatened  by  "Rapid 
Transit "  and  plans  for  a  Beacon  Street  railway ! 
One  cannot  at  Copley  Square  look  down  upon  so 
beautiful  a  view  as  the  Beacon  Street  houses  com 
mand  ;  still  we  admired  it  all  over  again  as  we  came 
down  from  the  Public  Library  out  upon  its  front 
steps.  We  dismissed  our  boys,  who  hurried  home, 
after  thanking  us  for  their  afternoon's  enjoyment,  and 
we  remained  a  while  to  look  at  the  buildings  about 
us,  which  represent  fairly  so  many  of  the  wonderful 
advantages  that  Boston  possesses.  You  remember 
that  the  library  stands  on  the  upper  side  of  a  triangle, 
and  that  Huntington  Avenue  and  Boylston  Street 
shut  in  this  triangle  on  the  right  and  left,  meeting  in 
a  point  below  to  continue  as  Boylston  Street.  On 
our  right  was  the  beautiful  building  of  the  Museum 
of  Fine  Arts,  rich  in  coloring  and  filling  in  the  space 
till  you  come  to  the  picturesque  Trinity  Church,  which 
faced  us.  Then,  at  our  left,  was  the  ivy-covered 
front  of  the  Second  Church,  where  we  have  been  on 
Sunday  evenings  to  hear  the  vespers,  and  where  I 
went  often  for  the  Sunday  services  in  summer. 
Higher  up,  just  at  our  left,  is  the  New  Old  South,  with 
its  picturesque  tower,  at  the  corner  of  Dartmouth 
Street. 

A  little  farther  away,  on  Exeter  Street,  is  the  South 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  313 

Congregational  Church,  with  its  Sunday  services,  and 
in  its  week  days,  too,  doing  much  Sunday  work  with 
its  "  South  Friendly  Society "  and  numerous  helping 
clubs  that  meet   in  its  vestry  rooms.     Behind  this 
church,  on  Newbury  Street,  is  the  new  school  for  the 
deaf  and  dumb,  the  Horace  Mann  School,  due  of  the 
public   schools  where  the  dumb  are  taught  to  talk 
though  they  have  no  voices,  and  to  hear  with  closed 
ears.     Opposite  is  the  Prince  School,  and  the  Normal 
Art  School  is  there  also.     Just  below  Copley  Square 
stands  the  Institute  of  Technology  building  and  that 
of  the  Natural  History  Society.     This  very  afternoon 
there  was  a  .meeting  of  the  Associated  Charities  going 
on  in  the  Technology  building  that  we  had  meant  to 
go  to  if  Harry  could  have  come  for  me  earlier.     We 
heard  afterwards  that  Kobert  Treat  Paine  addressed 
the  meeting,  and  that  Eev.  Brooke  Herford  also  spoke. 
And  I  learned,  too,  that  the  Young  Travellers'  Aid 
Society  was  holding  its  meeting  that  very  afternoon  at 
Trinity  Chapel  just  opposite  us.     We  met  one  of  its 
members  coming  away,  who  told  us  of  its  interesting 
work  and  how  one  of  its  matrons  had  reported  that  in 
the  past  year  she  had  directed  over  eleven  hundred 
young  women  to  suitable  homes  who  had  arrived  at 
the  railway  stations  without  any  idea  of  where  they 
were  going,  and  some  of  them  with  hopelessly  little 
knowledge  of  the  place  they  had  come  to,  or  of  their 
own  object  in  coming. 

But  as  we  stood  there,  looking  down  upon  all  the 
possibilities  that  Boston  offers  in  this  Copley  Square, 
we  decided  it  would  be  a  beautiful  place  to  live  in. 
So  we  imagined  ourselves  taking  an  apartment  in  its 
neighborhood,  perhaps  where  we  could  look  out  upon 
one  of  its  picturesque  buildings,  and  we  imagined  the 
happy  life  we  would  lead  there.  We  could  go  to  every 
one  of  the  courses  at  the  Lowell  Institute ;  we  could 


314  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

follow  up  our  study  of  the  languages  at  some  of  the 
Technology  classes ;  we  could  have  our  days  for  tak 
ing  some  of  the  boys  to  the  rooms  of  the  Public  Li 
brary  to  help  them  about  taking  out  books  and  to 
show  them  the  treasures  of  the  library ;  and  besides 
making  ourselves  acquainted,  too,  with  the  treasures 
of  the  Art  Museum,  we  could  help  others  to  know 
them ;  and  on  Sundays  we  should  be  in  reach  of  the 
sound  of  the  chimes  on  the  Arlington  Street  Church, 
although  we  could  not  for  long  hear  the  voice  of  its 
pastor,  Kev.  Brooke  Herford.  As  we  walked  away 
the  setting  sun  streamed  down  Boylston  Street  and 
lighted  up  the  beautiful  tower  of  the  New  Old  South, 
and  the  sky  was  clear  with  promise  and  beauty. 

November  18. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  had  the  meeting, 
which  I  did  a  little  dread,  with  Harry's  mother.  I 
went  to  arrange  the  rooms  that  she  occupies  at  Harry's 
present  home  at  Mrs.  Metcalfs.  The  rooms  are  very 
pleasant,  and  I  took  some  chrysanthemums  and  bright 
flowers  to  make  it  all  look  gay,  and  I  was  there  when 
she  arrived,  and  received  from  her  a  most  hearty  greet 
ing.  And  this  was  the  day  before  my  own  mother 
arrived ;  so  we  have  since  had  very  exciting  and  con 
fused  times,  which  came  in  all  this  busy  week  in  Boston. 
Harry  and  I  found  it  hard  to  hold  on  to  our  Lowell 
Institute  evenings  and  to  our  regular  occupations ;  but 
Mrs.  Merton  and  my  mother  were  equally  interested 
in  the  temperance  meetings  and  in  the  receptions  to 
Lady  Henry  Somerset  and  the  foreign  delegations. 

Everybody,  indeed,  is  enchanted  with  the  courteous 
grace  of  Lady  Henry  Somerset,  and  I  wondered  if  we 
Americans  are  behind  in  "  courtesy  "  because  we  have 
no  "  court "  to  study  it  in ;  and  then  I  remembered  that 
on  this  point  I  was  once  reminded  that  we  Americans 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  315 

consider  that  every  woman  is  a  princess  in  her  own 
right,  and  therefore  every  woman  ought  to  know 
what  courtesy  is,  and  show  it  always  in  every  place  she 
is  in,  which,  indeed,  she  can  make  her  own  "  court." 

Mrs.  Merton  and  my  mother  have  been  very  much 
interested  in  the  meetings,  and  they  think  the  day  at 
Faneuil  Hall  was  indeed  something  to  have  come  to 
Boston  for.  The  meetings  are  so  crowded  that  it  is 
difficult  to  make  any  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
speakers,  but  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  how  great  their 
influence  is.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  a  chance  to  see 
Miss  Frances  Willard  preside,  and  to  admire  her  readi 
ness  and  the  quickness  with  which  she  grasps  an  oc 
casion.  And  then  I  have  had  one  or  two  chances  to 
hear  Lady  Henry  Somerset  speak,  and  to  feel  the  grace 
ful  charm  in  all  she  says. 

Think  of  it !  We  were  present  when  Frances  Wil 
lard  made  her  splendid  speech  welcoming  Lady  Henry 
and  the  English  delegates,  at  the  end  of  which  she 
bent  down  so  prettily  and  kissed  Lady  Henry's  hand. 
Everybody  in  the  house  was  waving  handkerchiefs, 
and  for  me  I  was  crying  my  eyes  out.  Lady  Henry 
made  a  beautiful  speech,  and,  indeed,  she  is  a  charm 
ing  person  in  every  way. 

By  great  luck,  just  at  the  last  moment  Harry  got 
some  tickets  for  the  balcony,  and  we  went  to  the  ban 
quet.  The  banquet,  you  must  know,  was  in  the  Music 
Hall,  and  I  do  not  know  how  many  people  were  there. 
It  was  great  fun  looking  down  from  the  balconies  and 
seeing  the  marchionesses  and  duchesses,  as  Harry  calls 
them,  from  our  superior  position.  Lady  Henry  spoke 
again  charmingly ;  Miss  Willard  made  a  very  good 
speech  ;  Governor  Long  made  a  funny  speech;  and  all 
in  all  it  was  a  very  nice  occasion. 

But  here,  indeed,  I  have  some  news  to  tell  you  so 


316  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

wonderful  and  important  that  I  do  not  know  how  I  am 
going  to  write  it;  I  will  only  try  to  explain  to  you 
how  it  has  all  come  about.  For  this  is,  indeed,  my 
last  letter  to  you,  and  so  it  must  tell  you  everything. 

All  matters  are  now  arranged,  my  matters,  I  mean. 
We  are  to  be  married,  Harry  and  I,  in  Christmas  week ! 
You  will  have  the  cards.  So,  you  see,  it  will  be  just 
two  weeks  after  your  marriage ;  and  perhaps  you  and 
Rupert  will  shorten  your  wedding  journey  so  that  you 
can  be  present  at  my  occasion.  If  you  feel  in  as  much 
of  a  flurry  as  I  do  now,  you  will  hardly  find  the  time 
to  read  this  letter  or  to  understand  it  if  you  do.  But, 
indeed,  I  am  not  all  the  time  in  a  flurry ;  I  find  my 
self  in  a  state  of  great  composure  most  of  the  time,  for 
it  all  seems  right,  and  everything  only  too  happily  ar 
ranged.  It  is  only  when  I  stop  to  think  of  .what  you 
will  say,  and  my  other  dear  friends  who  are  not  pre 
pared  for  such  changes,  that  I  put  myself  in  a  flurry. 
I  will,  however,  try  to  send  you  a  coherent  account. 

One  day,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  going  and  coming 
of  which  I  have  been  writing  to  you,  Cousin  Maria 
and  I  were  sitting  in  a  pretty  upstairs  room,  where 
she  has  her  embroidery  work  and  where  we  come  for 
all  our  morning  confabulations  and  plans,  and  I  was 
planning  to  go  out  to  lunch  with  Mrs.  Merton,  when 
we  were  interrupted  by  a  summons  from  Aunt  Martha 
to  go  downstairs  for  some  visitors.  Something  in  the 
glance  of  the  eye  of  our  little  Swedish  maid  made  me 
suddenly  suspect  that  Harry  was  one  of  the  visitors, 
and,  indeed,  she  said  it  was  Mr.  Merton,  but  he  had 
not  inquired  for  me.  Cousin  Maria  began  to  laugh  at 
me  for  my  apparent  anxiety,  and  we  were  presently 
both  of  us  summoned  down. 

There,  in  the  large  front  drawing-room,  I  found  as 
sembled  quite  a  party;  Mrs.  Merton  was  there,  and 
Aunt  Martha,  and  my  own  mother,  and,  besides,  some 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  317 

gentlemen  I  had  never  seen.  Suddenly  it  seemed  as  if 
I  were  on  the  stage,  and  as  if  there  were  an  important 
scene  going  on  in  front  of  the  footlights,  and  as  if  I 
were  one  of  the  principal  characters.  Only  I  did  not 
feel  so  frightened  as  I  ought  to ;  for  there  was  Harry, 
restraining  himself  from  coming  to  meet  me,  because 
"  his  vice-president "  came  forward  directly  to  shake 
hands  with  me.  I  had  seen  Mr.  Outlake  before,  so  he 
introduced  me  to  Mr.  Champernoon,  one  of  the  direc 
tors  of  Harry's  concern,  and  both  of  them  rather  stiffly 
asked  me  how  I  was. 

But  then  Mr.  Outlake  hurried  011  to  what  he  wanted 
to  say,  and  I  believe  he  began  at  the  wrong  end  and 
said  first  what  he  had  meant  to  say  last.  He  ex 
plained  that  he  and  the  directors  were  planning  to 
establish  soon  a  branch  of  their  concern,  which  they 
wanted  to  place  in  South  Boston ;  and  they  especially 
wished  to  put  Mr.  Harry  Merton  at  the  head  of  it  as 
overseer.  They  wanted  somebody  who  would  not 
only  direct  the  business  there,  but  who  would  also 
really  oversee  the  men  and  their  families  and  live  in 
South  Boston,  where  he  could  watch  over  them  in 
their  homes.  It  was  quite  important,  he  said,  that 
all  this  matter  should  be  arranged  this  winter,  so  that 
they  could  begin  work  by  the  first  of  next  year. 
Then  he  looked  at  me  and  then  he  looked  at  Harry, 
and  finally  blundered  on  to  say  that  he  had  himself 
suggested  that  it  would  be  a  good  plan  if  I  would  con 
sent  to  Mr.  Merton's  making  his  home  in  South  Bos 
ton.  Besides  this,  he  hurried  on,  it  was  very  impor 
tant  to  send  Mr.  Harry  Merton  to  Washington  in  the 
latter  part  of  December  to  arrange  about  some  patent 
business  before  he  should  establish  himself  and  the 
concern  in  South  Boston. 

Now  Harry  and  I  have  discovered  that  we  have  a 
terrible  way,  in  the  midst  of  most  serious  matters,  of 


318  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

seeing  the  comic  side  of  them;  and  during  all  this 
statement,  which  indeed  was  stammered  out  so  as  to 
seem  very  long,  I  looked  round  under  my  eyes  to  see 
the  faces  of  all  my  friends  looking  so  sober  that  it 
seemed  as  if  the  last  end  of  all  were  approaching. 
Then  I  looked  up  at  Harry  opposite  me,  and  there  he 
was  almost  laughing  as  he  came  towards  me,  and  yet 
very  serious,  too,  as  he  said,  "  The  thing  is,  Lucy,  will 
you  marry  me  Christmas  week  ?  " 

I  don't  know  how  it  was  that  I  could  answer  so 
quickly,  but  it  all  seemed  like  a  play  and  as  if  it  were 
my  part  to  give  him  my  hand  and  to  say  that  if  he 
wanted  it  I  woiild.  And  Harry  has  since  declared 
that  he  had  to  come  forward  then ;  for  he  was  very 
much  afraid  that  the  vice-president  was  going  to  make 
his  offer  of  marriage  for  him ! 

So  we  all  stood  up  in  a  row,  and  everybody  shook 
hands,  and  it  might  have  been  the  marriage  itself,  it 
was  all  so  solemn.  While  Mr.  Outlake  was  talking 
about  South  Boston  I  stole  a  glance  at  Aunt  Martha, 
and  she  looked  very  grim ;  for  she  was  disgusted  at 
the  idea  of  our  living  there.  But  when  the  question 
of  a  marriage  in  Christmas  week  came  up,  her  face 
changed  entirely ;  for  the  idea  of  a  wedding  delights 
her  heart.  She  has  all  along  been  disappointed  that 
your  wedding  and  Rupert's  is  not  to  take  place  here 
in  Boston,  and  she  insists,  therefore,  that  we  shall  be 
married  here  at  her  house,  though  I  confess  I  should 
like  to  go  back  to  our  dear  Astney.  And  so  this 
wondrous  scene  closed  ;  the  gentlemen  would  not  stay 
to  lunch,  but  everybody  else  did. 

Harry  has  since  taken  occasion  to  insist  that  I  shall 
not  decide  to  live  in  South  Boston  unless  I  really 
want  to  and  my  friends  are  willing.  He  is  sure  that 
he  can  arrange  to  be  there  when  he  is  needed,  wher 
ever  we  may  decide  to  live.  So  he  has  been  taking 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  319 

me  to  look  at  apartments  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Copley  Square,  because  that  was  our  vision  of  happi 
ness  that  afternoon  of  which  I  have  written  you. 
And  we  have  had  most  amusing  times  answering 
advertisements  and  looking  up  houses  and  trying  to 
determine  the  delicate  line  that  divides  the  apartment 
from  the  tenement,  as  we  scorn  the  word  "  flat,"  that 
combines  the  two. 

We  have  seen  all  sorts  of  funny  things.  One  man 
told  us,  when  we  looked  at  his  house,  that  we  should 
not  need  any  fires,  as  the  sun  shone  there  all  day,  and 
none  of  his  people  ever  complained  of  the  cold.  And 
Harry  and  his  mother  have  been  exploring  also  in 
South  Boston,  and  they,  too,  bring  amusing  accounts 
of  their  adventures.  Finally,  we  decided  that  we  had 
better  find  our  house  and  get  it  in  order,  so  that  we 
can  occupy  it  as  soon  as  we  return  from  Washington. 

This  visit  to  Washington  and  the  plan  of  the  wed 
ding  seem  to  reconcile  Aunt  Martha  to  the  whole 
affair.  She  has  already  written  a  pile  of  letters  of 
introduction  for  us  to  influential  friends  of  hers  in 
Washington,  and  I  think  she  has  written  a  number  to 
precede  us.  And  she  plans  with  my  mother  to  put  the 
finishing  touches  to  our  house  while  we  are  gone. 
She  even  consented  to  go  with  Harry  and  me  to 
South  Boston,  and  the  other  day  along  we  went  with 
my  mother,  to  see  the  results  of  his  investigations. 

We  drove  there  in  Aunt  Martha's  carriage,  and  in 
deed  it  was  as  good  as  a  play  to  see  how  her  nose 
went  up  as  wTe  passed  through  the  close  streets  of  the 
South  Cove  and  all  in  among  the  railroad  tracks  be 
yond.  (Even  my  mother's  face  wore  a  somewhat 
anxious  expression.  But  presently,  when  we  came 
out  into  wider  streets  between  rows  of  handsome,  new 
brick  houses,  Aunt  Martha  began  to  look  much  sur 
prised.  "I  had  no  idea  there  was  anything  of  this 
sort  here,"  she  exclaimed. 


320  THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY. 

So  we  went  on  and  stopped  before  a  house,  wheva 
an  elevator  carried  us  to  the  upper  story,  and  the 
doors  opened  for  us  upon  a  suite  of  large,  airy,  sunny 
rooms.  Harry  and  I  have  had  a  discussion  over 
small  and  large  rooms.  I  have  been  fascinated  with 
an  apartment  with  tiny  little  rooms,  all  most  com 
fortably  arranged  with  every  convenience,  but  which 
might  have  been  all  put  into  one  of  the  large  rooms 
we  were  now  looking  at.  But  Harry  has  always  ob 
jected  to  the  little  rooms :  they  might  look  cosey,  he 
agreed,  and  one  could  fit  them  up  charmingly ;  but  he 
has  always  represented  the  large  size  of  certain  family 
bookcases  he  depends  upon  bringing  into  his  own 
apartments.  "  And  then,"  he  would  say,  "  what  will 
you  do  with  your  parties  of  Vacation  School  pupils 
that  you  propose  to  have,  and  how  are  you  going  to 
accommodate  all  the  men  and  their  families  who  are 
to  come  and  see  us  from  the  factory  ?  " 

So  I  saw  directly  that  these  large  rooms  were  after 
Harry's  own  heart.  And,  indeed,  I  saw  at  the  same 
time  that  they  must  needs  be  after  my  own  heart. 
For  opposite  me  were  some  broad  windows,  and  when 
Harry  took  me  up  to  them  we  looked  out  upon  a 
glorious  view,  — the  ideal  view  that,  you  know,  I  had 
always  supposed  we  should  see  from  every  house  in 
Boston !  Here  we  could  see  spread  before  us  the 
beautiful  harbor,  all  dotted  with  islands,  and  between 
them,  far  beyond,  the  horizon  of  the  sea. 

You  know  how  I  have  longed  for  this,  and  how  I 
growled  a  little  when  T  first  came,  and  complained 
that  I  supposed  that  Boston  was  a  seaport,  but  that  I 
could  see  this  water  view  only  when  I  drove  with 
Aunt  Martha  far  away  to  the  lovely  hill  at  the  Arnold 
Arboretum.  And  Harry  declares  that  I  was  hunting 
for  this  from  the  cupola  of  the  State  House  and  from 
the  top  of  Bunker  Hill  Monument  and  from  the  Ames 


THE  NEW  HARRY  AND  LUCY.  321 

Building  elevator,  etc.  And  here  I  was  to  have  it 
in  our  own  home;  for  so  I  directly  determined  it 
must  be. 

I  turned  back  to  look  into  the  room  to  see  Aunt 
Martha  and  mamma  pacing  it  to  calculate  about  the 
carpets.  I  fancied  Harry's  bookcases  there,  filled 
with  the  companions  of  our  future  evenings.  Here 
we  shall  find  Harry's  ancestral  edition  of  "  Sandford 
and  Merton  "  and  mine  of  Miss  Edgeworth's  "  Harry 
and  Lucy."  And  both  of  us  fell  to  imagining  how  we 
would  invite  the  boys  and  girls  and  the  men  and 
women  in  our  neighborhood  to  help  us  enjoy  our 
happy  evenings  there ;  and  how  first  we  would  begin 
by  making  it  a  happy  home,  a  home  of  our  own 
enjoyment  in  its  highest  sense,  in  the  full  life  of 
which  we  could  have  the  best,  and  then  begin  to  im 
part  it  to  others. 

I  took  Aunt  Martha  to  the  windows,  and  she  ex 
claimed,  "  Lucy,  your  view  is  really  superior  to  what 
Kate's  will  be  ! "  Harry  and  I  looked  at  each  other 
smiling  ;  even  Aunt  Martha  was  forced  to  acknowl 
edge  that  our  view  was  equal  to  that  from  the  "  water 
side  "  of  Beacon  Street ! 

We  lingered  before  the  windows  with  more  serious 
thoughts.  Whatever  might  be  our  life  within  those 
rooms,  here  we  could  find  inspiration  always  in  look 
ing  out  upon  that  horizon  line.  And  yet,  wherever 
we  were,  we  said,  and  however  full  our  life  might  be 
with  its  little  crowding  duties,  we  could  always  keep 
before  us  the  idea  of  a  horizon  line,  —  of  something 
beyond. 

From  the  Boston  Daily  Argus. 

MARRIED  at  Astney,  Vermont,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Primrose,  of 
Atherton,  Mr.  HARRY  MERTON,  of  Boston,  and  Miss  LUCY 
SANDFORD,  of  Astney. 


EDWARD  E.  HALE'S   WRITINGS. 


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Spanish  politics,  and  a  rapid,  running  description  of  everything  that 
observant  eyes  could  possibly  see.  Mr.  Hale  makes  Spain  more  attrac 
tive  and  more  amusing  than  any  othir  traveller  has  done,  and  he  lavishes 
upon  her  «pigram  and  wit."  —  Boston  Advertiser. 

CHRISTMAS    EVE    AND    CHRISTMAS    DAY. 

Ten  Stories.     i6mo.    $1.25. 

"  Many  an  eye  has  moistened,  and  many  a  heart  grown  kindlier  with 
Christmas  thoughts  over  'Daily  Bread,'  and  some  of  the  lesser  stars 
which  now  shine  in  the  same  galaxy ;  and  the  volume  which  contains 
them  will  carry  on  their  humane  ministry  to  many  a  future  Christmas 
time."  —  Christian  Register. 


IN    HIS    NAME.     A  Story  of  the  Waldenses,  Seven  Hun 
dred  Years  ago.     Square  1 8mo.     Paper,  25  cents ;  cloth,  $1.00. 


in  the  days  when   Richard  Cceur  de   Lion  and   his  splendid  following 
wended  their  way  to  the  Crusades,  and  when  the  name  of  Christ  in- 


iieans  01  suuu  as  inese,  <t(iu  11  is  10  nmsiraie  me  power  01  tnis  almost 
magical  phrase  that  the  story  is  written.  That  it  is  charmingly  written, 
follows  from  its  authorship.  There  is  in  fact  no  little  book  that  we  have 
seen  of  late  that  offers  so  much  of  so  pleasant  reading  in  such  little  space, 
and  conveys  so  apt  and  pertinent  a  lesson  of  pure  religion."  —  W.  Y. 
Commercial  A  dvertiser. 

"  The  very  loveliest  Christmas  story  ever  written.  It  has  the  ring  of  an 
old  Troubadour  in  it." 

A   SUMMER  VACATION.     i6mo.    50  cents. 

"  After  Mr.  Hale's  return  from  Europe  he  preached  to  his  people  four 
sermons  concerning  his  European  experience.  At  the  request  of  '  some 
who  heard  them,'  Mr.  Hale  has  allowed  these  sermons  to  be  published 
with  this  title.  They  are  full  of  vigorous  thought,  wide  philanthropy, 
and  practical  suggestions,  and  will  be  read  with  interest  by  all  classes." — 
Boston  Transcript. 

Sold  everywhere.     Mailed,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the 
Publishers, 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  BOSTON. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 


TEN    TIMES    ONE    SERIES. 


FOUR  AND  FIVE. 

A    STORY    OF   A    LEND-A-HAND   CLUB. 
BY   EDWARD   E.   HALE, 

AUTHOR   OF      "  TEN    TIMES   ONE   IS    TEN,"     "  IN    HIS   NAME,"    "  MRS.    MERRIAM's 
SCHOLARS,"   "HOW   TO   DO    IT,"    ETC. 

16mo.     Cloth.     Price,  $1.00. 


Dr.  Hale's  style  is  so  well-known  that  it  seems  unnecessary  to  say  more  of 
one  of  his  books  than  to  announce  its  issue.  The  friends  of  the  "Ten  Times 
One  is  Ten  "  series  will  find  this  latest  volume  equally  delightful  with  the  others. 
Four  boys  of  the  "  Lend-a-Hand"  club  camp  one  summer  in  the  Kaatskills, 
and,  in  addition  to  trout-fishing  and  hunting,  find  time  to  practically  illustrate 
their  club  name  in  various  neighborly  acts  of  kindness  for  the  mountaineers. 
The  first  summer  one  new  member  is  added,  and  each  one  enrolls  a  new  member 
for  the  following  summer.  Thus  doubling  its  membership,  the  work  of  the  club 
in  camp  reunion  each  summer,  and  in  various  schools  and  towns  in  winter,  is 
traced  for  four  years,  making  a  very  bright  and  interesting  story.  —  Public 
Opinion. 

Stories  about  woodland  camps  are  always  of  interest  to  boys,  and  Dr.  Edward 
Everett  Hale  knows  how  to  write  and  touch  the  innermost  chord  of  sympathy  in 
young  hearts.  The  Wadsworth  mottoes  and  their  work  form  the  theme  of  Dr. 
Hale's  latest  story,  "  Four  and  Five."  The  delightful  camp,  the  ice-boat  race, 
the  stories  of  the  incidents  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  the  formation  of  the 
club  all  go  to  make  up  a  very  readable  story.  Every  boy  will  be  benefited  by  it. 
—  Boston  Times. 

A  new  volume  has  been  published  in  Edward  Everett  Hale's  popular  "Ten 
Times  One  "  series  which  is  entitled  "  Four  and  Five.  A  story  of  a  Lend-a-Hand 
Club."  The  story  is  imbued  with  all  that  strong,  fresh,  original,  and  helpful  style 
for  which  the  distinguished  author  is  so  famous,  and  which  has  made  him  so 
immense  a  favorite  with  young  people,  as  well  as  with  all  older  readers.  Several 
interesting  incidents  occur  during  their  camping  times  in  which  they  splendidly 
carry  out  their  lend-a-hand  principle,  and  carry  substantial  aid  and  joy  to  the 
unfortunate.  The  story  throughout  is  instinct  with  the  brightest  spirit,  while  the 
mottoes  of  the  club  are  illustrated  in  a  way  to  make  it  eminently  helpful  to 
every  boy  and  girl  in  the  land.  —  Boston  Home  Journal. 


Sold    everywhere.       Mailed,    post-paid,    on    receipt   of 
price  by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,   BOSTON. 


MR,  MALE'S  BOY  BOOKS. 


STORIES  OF  WAR, 

Told  by  Soldiers* 

STORIES  OF  THE  SEA, 

Told  by  Sailors. 

STORIES  OF  ADVENTURE, 

Told  by  Adventurers. 

STORIES  OF  DISCOVERY, 

Told  by  Discoverers. 

STORIES  OF  INVENTION, 

Told  by  Inventors. 


Collected  and  edited  by  EDWARD  E.  HALE.      i6mo, 
cloth,  black  and  gold.     Price,  $1.00  per  volume. 

For  sale  by  all  booksellers,   or  mailed,  post-paid,   on 
receipt  of  price  by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  BOSTON. 


MAR 


Date  Due 

1:4,1984 


-WAR- 


f"?%rv 

IfiS 


PRINTED  IN   U.S.A.  CAT.     NO.     24      161 


31970 '  00543  4052 


